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Valentine’s Day Blues and Other Colors

Posted on February 11, 2011 - by Laura Slap-Shelton

Valentine’s Day, a day when love is officially celebrated in the United States, can be a day of increased pain and sadness for the bereaved. Many individuals report images of their heart being shattered or smashed as they describe the pain their loss has created. They find it hard to assemble the pieces back into the beautiful wholeness they once knew. Others feel frozen and disconnected from those they love. Their feelings no longer flow freely, and they carry a sense of emotional isolation. It is hard to keep one’s heart open when it has been hurt and traumatized by […]

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Cupid’s Wayward Arrow: Break-Up Spurs Grief

Posted on February 11, 2011 - by Karen Johnson

February is nauseating. Though sweat mixed with tears can feel exhilarating, I had to stop. I sat down on the ground, exhausted; my arm simply could not toss the 49th raw egg into the cinder block wall in my backyard.  Yolks were dripping down the fence; egg cartons were scattered on the lawn, and my fatigue, perspiration and waterfall of tears now sent my body to a lump of grief on the grass. I am a portrait of perspiration, agony, loneliness, disappointment and frustration.  It was Valentine’s Day, my second one as formerly engaged. I always stroll down the garish […]

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My children, Paul & Alexa (2/28/10)

Posted on February 11, 2011 - by admin

Valentines Day, Loss and Hope Since I was 7 years old, Valentines Day has been the anniversary for my sister Amy Beth. Amy was born on that day in 1971. She was as normal as her four older brothers and sisters, yet she cried all the time and sharing a bedroom, my living baby doll taught me how to rub someone’s back at a young age. June 9, 1971 she stopped crying. This was before the ambulances came to your home and in a time when one car to each household was commonplace. The doctors called it SIDS. My daughter […]

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At Valentine’s Time, Widow Misses Even the Boredom

Posted on February 10, 2011 - by Paula Ezop

As a widow, I’ve found that ordinary things can take on a whole new meaning.  For instance, today at work I turned over the page of my desk calendar.  There on one side of the calendar page was a page full of hearts with a message, “Remember, next Monday is Valentine’s Day.”  I found myself feeling extremely blue at the thought of another Valentine’s Day without the love of my life (my husband passed away almost 6 years ago).  I remembered how he would always have flowers in a vase on the kitchen table for me when I came home from […]

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Dad was Daughter’s Best Valentine

Posted on February 10, 2011 - by Michelle Gallucci

The one-year anniversary of my dad is coming up very quickly. I often think to myself: Where did the time go?  It doesn’t seem like a year at all. The first holidays quickly became the past for me, trying not to think of it and how hard it was for me and my family. Valentine’s Day to my dad was just an ordinary day, just another Hallmark holiday. He was absolutely right. I never got anything for my dad for Valentine’s Day because I knew — and he also knew — how much I loved him. The chocolate wasn’t going […]

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my wife and kidney disease

Posted on February 9, 2011 - by admin

My wife was the kindest person i ever fell in love with, she would help a person even when she was in pain herself, she loved to cook and she would cook for friends neighbors strangers that was sick or needed a hand. my wife had kidney disease and was on dialysis 3 times a week she was so sick afterwards that she could not walk to the car i had to wheel her out and help her to bed but on days where she felt a little better she wanted to cook for people she would see recipes on […]

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My eldest son gone to soon.

Posted on February 9, 2011 - by admin

My son passed away 9 months ago he was 23 yrs old. I miss him so much my pain is still so raw. I am a strong woman and I have stayed strong for my husband and two other sons. I have now been in survival mode for the past nine months. My youngest son went into a downward spiral of depression and started rebelling and making very poor choices. So I found myself putting whatever energy I could muster into helping him deal with his pain. My middle son left for college in Aug….and I had to support it […]

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After Death Contact Keeps Wife Connected to Soul Mate

Posted on February 9, 2011 - by Paula Ezop

After my husband’s death, I looked for ways to continue our love.  I looked for ways to stay connected to him beyond the veil.  I wanted to understand death and dying.  I searched for ways for us to stay connected through our love, and for ways that we could still communicate. I read about ADC’s, which stands for after death communication.  I prayed that Eddie would still let me know that he was with me, and that he still loved me; that was the only way that I was going to survive my walk alone. I now believe that our […]

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Winter on the Wane, Spring Hope is Coming

Posted on February 8, 2011 - by Vicky Bates

The calendar reads early February, and the days are getting longer. At this time of year, the daylight increases by 3 minutes each twenty-four hours; that comforts me, even though it was 10 degrees this morning. That soft evening light that stretches over the river and trees by my house gives me a quiet settling, as if I was taking that first deep breath of a meditation. Grief is strange, as you know. One minute you want to hold on to the past, dwelling on every detail of your lost loved one, and then as the different seasons approach, you […]

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Movie Review: ‘Rabbit Hole’

Posted on February 7, 2011 - by Sandy Fox

Finally, a movie has been released that shows how the death of a child traumatizes a whole family. It has taken a very long time to try to portray accurately the toll such an event takes on everyone involved: parents, siblings (if any), grandparents, other relatives and friends. Until the 1980s, the death of a child was kept hidden under the table. No one ever spoke about it because no one was ever educated as to how to react when it happened. Thank God for books, for Harriett Schiff’s first attempt to explain what you will go through if it ever […]

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