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Why I Talk to Light Bulbs: I See My Dead Son

Posted on May 26, 2025 - by Betsy Thibaut Stephenson

Why I Talk to Light Bulbs I see my dead son everywhere. Within days of Charlie’s death by suicide three years ago, I noticed flickers everywhere. He’s out of reach, and my brain knows it, but my brain keeps looking for him. He has thoroughly infiltrated my senses, revealing himself in sounds like clinking beer bottles, the rumbling laughter of his father, and the flicker of the lights that illuminate my bathroom vanity. When I was thick with grief, unable to eat or focus or track simple conversations, muscle memory pulled me through the motions of simple hygiene each morning. […]

Grieving for Our Fallen Soldiers This Memorial Day

Posted on May 26, 2025 - by Gloria Horsley

Memorial Day is a day to stop and reflect on all those who have fought for our freedom and country. Across all types of wars and conflicts, they have been on the front lines, putting their courage to work on our behalf. Grieving a soldier is an important act. While we often miss these loved ones, Memorial Day is a special time to stop and remember them. Many people take this time to visit the graves of soldiers and pay their respects. It can be a solemn experience, but it can also be a positive one that reminds us of […]

Nature and Grief: Empowering Teachings from the World Around Us

Posted on May 23, 2025 - by David Roberts

Nature and Grief Following the death of my eighteen-year-old daughter Jeannine in March of 2003, I embraced non-ordinary phenomena to help me develop new insights. One of the things that became clear to me was that we do survive death, and that our deceased loved ones communicate their ongoing existence to us. My willingness to understand the significance of signs and their underlying connections have allowed me to develop clarity and find my peace with Jeannine’s death. There are many individuals who don’t believe in signs or for whatever reason have not received them. However, there are different ways to […]

What a New Widow Should Know to Survive

Posted on May 17, 2025 - by Linda Della-Donna

When you suddenly find yourself without your life partner, you don’t know what to expect. Your world’s been turned upside down. Like the mighty oak caught in a fierce wind, you feel uprooted. Your feet don’t touch the ground. You think you’re crazy. But you’re not. You’re just a new widow. Your husband is dead and your life is forever changed.

Scripting Our Own Grief Paths after the Death of Our Children

Posted on May 17, 2025 - by David Roberts

Relationship Continues after Daughter’s Death The relationship that I continue to share with my daughter Jeannine following her death in 2003 has on most days allowed me to embrace a peaceful perspective. As part of our ongoing relationship, she has regularly communicated signs of her presence. In the beginning, I longed for signs because the pain of her physical absence was unbearable. Today, I still welcome signs from my daughter but no longer rely on them. Jeannine makes her presence known when I need it most or simply when she desires contact with me. I also know that I can […]

The Broken Places: Strength after Loss

Posted on May 16, 2025 - by David Roberts

The Broken Places I was watching a promotional ad on television recently for the show “Intervention” and saw a quote from Ernest Hemingway, which read: “The world breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” Actually, this quote is a passage from Hemingway’s novel: “A Farewell to Arms.” Hemingway was one of the great American writers of his time, who died in 1961 as a result of suicide. As an aside, Neil Peart of Rush wrote the lyrics to a hauntingly beautiful song called “Losing It” which in part alluded to the rise and fall of Ernest […]

Missing Mom on Mother’s Day

Posted on May 15, 2025 - by Mary Jane Cronin

Missing Mom on Mother’s Day My friend and I were recently having breakfast and talk turned to the upcoming Mother’s Day. Both of us have lost our mothers recently and a look of sadness and “I miss her” tears began to fill our eyes. As my thoughts drifted back to my years as a child, when I scurried to make Mom breakfast in bed and bring her flowers from the yard, I softly smiled. She pretended to be surprised and always ate my creations, whether they were tasty or not. Growing into a young woman, the gifts became more memorable […]

‘I Want My Dad to Walk Me Down the Aisle’

Posted on May 14, 2025 - by Michelle Gallucci

When Your Father Dies Have you ever wondered why the good die young? I think about that all the time. It was a perfect Saturday. The couple went to the Bronx, walked around laughing and reminiscing. They went home watched a movie with their kids, but he couldn’t fall asleep. His chest was hurting, he didn’t feel well. Suddenly, he wasn’t breathing. That great man was my dad. How could a perfectly healthy man just suddenly not be there when you get home from school? The thought of what happened that night is always in my head. I wonder if […]

After Loss: Fear Can Be An Asset to Grieving Individuals

Posted on May 13, 2025 - by David Roberts

“No one ever told me that grief felt so much like fear”– C.S. Lewis This first line in C.S. Lewis’s book A Grief Observed , inspired me to reflect on how I experienced fear during the early days of grief following my daughter Jeannine’s death. Jeannine was eighteen when she died on March 1,2003 from cancer. My fear manifested in uncertainty about my ability to live again in a world without my daughter. I feared that my other children would also die. These fears were triggered because my once predictable ,orderly and safe world was a distant memory. To […]

Using Linking Objects on Mother’s Day

Posted on May 11, 2025 - by Harriet Hodgson

“I’ve come to see the flag,” she declared. The flag waved outside a rehabilitation floor window. The woman parked her walker, sat down, and peered at the flag. “Look at that!” she exclaimed. “The flag is straight out.” Her husband served in the navy, she shared, and the flag reminded her of him. She came to see the flag many times, an object that linked her with her beloved husband, the man she loved and missed and admired so much. Objects that Link You Mother’s Day is coming, and if your mother has died, you may want to find items […]