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Picture Me a Memory: Old Photos are Stirring

Posted on January 22, 2011 - by Kate McGrath

On a recent trip to Italy, I developed an interest in photography. There were simply too many picture-perfect moments that I had to honor with the click of my camera. And so, for Christmas, my parents bought me a gift for the purpose of cultivating this new and creative interest of mine – a new camera! Since then, I have gone click-crazy in an attempt to capture significant, meaningful moments – including those which feed not only my soul, but fill my stomach as well! I now have well over two hundred pictures from Christmas and New Year’s alone, not […]

When Animal Friends Die

Posted on January 21, 2011 - by Gabriel Constans

They say cats have nine lives. I wish that were true, but the facts contradict such myths. Everything dies, including the felines, dogs and other creatures we choose to care for and have in our lives. Most animals tend to have a shorter life-span than humans, thereby increasing the chances that our beloved friend will stop breathing long before we leave our mortal bodies behind. To add insult to injury is the often callous or dismissive attitude and comments of others when we’ve lost a non-human friend. People don’t always understand the emotional impact losing a pet can have. They […]

Getting Through Loss is an ‘Accomplishment’

Posted on January 20, 2011 - by Christine Thiele

The early days of my widowhood were dominated by my loss. Days were sad, and I struggled to reach nightfall every day because I knew I could fall into bed exhausted and relief would come for a few hours. I didn’t have to be anyone to anybody. I just had to get through the night. The holiday seasons are kind of like those early days, months, even years of widowness. I pray to make it through without losing myself again in the depths of my grief. Well, I’m here to tell you, I survived another holiday season. Was this season what […]

A Boy, a Man

Posted on January 19, 2011 - by admin

It¹s cold this morning in the mountains, really cold. While I was preparing to post my blog for the week something was gnawing at me, a sad incident that wouldn¹t leave me alone. Yesterday a local boy was found in the snow after 2 days of searching. The first of these nights was 17 below zero when he decided to leave a note on facebook, ³I love you all.² And walked out of the house taking a gun. Suicide leaves us with so many ³what ifs², and a weight of failure and blame on some level, that is added to […]

Obama’s Tucson Speech Shows How Words Can Help the Grieving

Posted on January 19, 2011 - by Irv Leon

Pres. Obama’s moving address to the nation last week may be viewed as a fine illustration of how we help others who grieve traumatic losses and what such grieving demands of us. Commentary on his own words will demonstrate how his short speech said so much. “There is nothing I can say that will fill the sudden hole torn in your hearts.” No words can undo this loss, though, ironically, this belies how much the right words and compassion can make a difference. The violent and traumatic nature of the killings is viscerally felt and not avoided in describing its […]

First Responder Learned Calm from Grandmother

Posted on January 19, 2011 - by Jeff Watson

I was born in the mountains of North Carolina and grew up on a small farm with my grandparents. All of my family were members of the local Baptist Church. My grandfather passed away when I was five. His passing was sudden and extremely painful for me. During the funeral, the entire family was eerily calm. As I grew older, my grandmother always told me not to mourn the passing of loved ones, since they were in a better place. Death was an almost weekly occurrence on the farm as the animals were always being harvested for consumption or dying […]

Poem: Music In Mourning

Posted on January 18, 2011 - by John French

~~Music in Mourning~~ Oh how misery sings to me, in wailing moans of agony. With shrieks and groans as overtones, within a dismal symphony. And woe; it rings from somber strings, and echoes with the winds. It rumbles like a perpetual storm, amidst weeping violins. And lo, how confounding it can be. Deciphering tones that lack rhythm and flow, and trumpet the disharmony. And though, it plays for me alone, the constant mournful steady drone, is an endless tribute unto thee. John French 2011 =

Family Photos Document Life Before and After Widowhood

Posted on January 18, 2011 - by Catherine Tidd

I don’t take a whole lot of pictures anymore. This wasn’t a conscious decision, but it is a big change from the person I used to be. In my early days as a mother, I was a huuuuge scrapbooker. I did what every typical mother does. I took one million pictures of my first born, around 500,000 of my second, and by the time the third one came around, I took about two a month, just so she would know she wasn’t born as a 5-year-old. I used to not only take pictures at events, but take them at every different angle […]

Sudden Loss of My Baby Brother

Posted on January 17, 2011 - by admin

On December 1st 2010, my life changed suddenly. All I can remember is my dad calling crying saying Ty was in a tragic car accident and we didnt know what was going to happen. 30 minutes later he was gone…I couldnt say I love you one more time, no more hugs, no more promises, no more future hopes for such a young and promising person. How does someone live normally again when the future is no longer what it was supposed to be?

Music for my Relatives: Understanding Buchenwald

Posted on January 17, 2011 - by Stan Goldberg

I thought about my father’s family tree as I drove from Prague to Weimer. Thirty-three relatives had died in Auschwitz, three had been liberated from Dachau, but nothing was written about Buchenwald, the concentration camp I would visit the next day, November 11th, 2010. It was Veterans Day in the United States and Armistice Day in Europe. I stood just inside the entrance and looked at the sign which could only be read by prisoners after they entered single-file through an iron door, giving the SS an opportunity to formally “initiate” them into the culture of Buchenwald. Jedum Das Seine. […]