Open to Hope Articles

Articles Home

Finding Spring Again After the Death of a Child

Posted on March 31, 2010 - by Cathy Seehuetter

We are finally at an end of what has often been a brutal winter. While gazing at the mountains of snow piled high in my front yard and the foot-long icicles hanging from my roof, it was hard to imagine that spring would ever come. We have endured bitter cold winds that have chilled us to the bone and treacherous roads that we have cautiously traveled. The days have been long and dark. No matter how long I have been a native of the Upper Midwest, I know we all will be glad when it comes to an end. However, as I described […]

Celebrate the Time We Had With Loved One

Posted on March 30, 2010 - by Louise Lagerman

Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened. — Dr. Seuss I love this quote and I will try my best everyday to live this although some days it is challenging. Some days it takes great effort. Every day I wake up anew and tell myself today I am going to rejoice today; I am going to celebrate that I had 23 wonderful years with my daughter, and when I feel the sadness and the despondency of her loss start to overtake me, I try to remember none of us here is guaranteed any amount of time on this […]

Bond to Deceased Child Can Go On

Posted on March 29, 2010 - by Sheri Perl

From the moment you become a parent, there are two questions that become first and foremost in your mind: Where is my child? Is he/she okay? Even when you are dealing with an infant who seldom leaves your side, you still get those moments. I can remember watching my babies when they were in deep sleeps to make sure that they were still breathing. And if I ever left them with a babysitter or at nursery school, I would wonder where they were and if they were okay. I simply had to know. It’s a constant vigil the undermines everything else […]

The Bereaved Are on a Hero’s Journey

Posted on March 29, 2010 - by Mary Jane Hurley Brant

Some say we don’t have anymore heroes, but I say we do. Let’s take a look at what a hero is and decide if you are one. A hero travels the hero’s journey. That’s when regular people such as you or me are asked to leave our routine life because something serious has occurred, and we are asked to do something about it. We are “called to help.” We are called to save our king, our country, our friend, or ourself. And because the task is arduous, we really don’t want to accept it. Medieval stories call the journey a […]

An Epiphany in Old San Juan

Posted on March 28, 2010 - by Mitch Carmody

Puerto Rico is the best kept secret in the world and where Bienvenidos truly means “welcome” in every sense of the word. The Puerto Rican people are warm, friendly and passionate. They not only embrace you with their arms and generous kisses, but with their compassionate heart. The island is only 35 miles wide by 100 miles long yet is home to over 4 million people, a country approximately the size and population of Connecticut. Although predominantly middle class, there are some caches of illegal aliens and drug lords spurred by our recession which contributes to nearly 1000 murders per year, […]

Looking Through the Window: A View of ‘Home’

Posted on March 26, 2010 - by Claire Perkins

It is the summer of 2007. At eighty-five years old, my mother is in the hospital for the second time in as many weeks. She is weak and tired and more than a little frightened. At the age of eighty, her kidneys failed. She’s been a dialysis patient for five years now, and while it’s given her new life it has also been hard on her body and spirit. Heart problems, pneumonia and now a GI bleed have required these most recent hospitalizations. She lies in her hospital bed looking out the small window. The angle of the bed is […]

Death of ‘Neon Man’ Inspires Friend to Help Others

Posted on March 25, 2010 - by Slash Coleman

In 2004, I got a call that my best friend died. Mark Jamison was a neon artist from Roanoke, Virginia, who was electrocuted after he was blown into a power line while hanging a neon sign. He was only 35. A month after he died, his girlfriend discovered she was pregnant. Mark and I had been friends for nearly 18 years. We met in a jazz band in college. Toured around with the band for a few years afterward and then, for the next decade, I traveled around the world looking for answers and he stayed in Roanoke, opened up a neon shop and looked […]

Poem: A Blind Eye

Posted on March 24, 2010 - by Deborah Tornillo

Can I turn a blind eye? Say to myself “It is what it is” or Turn a face of denial? I can turn it on Right or wrong. Trying to stay strong For however long. Torment, a reality Eats away at the core Continue to pray, Pray to My Lord. Can I turn a blind eye? Say to myself “Yes I can” I’m in denial. Lord, do you feel me? My broken heart It hurts. Torn, torn apart. Deborah Ann Tornillo Author, 36 Days Apart Copyright© 2010 http://www.deborahtornillo.com

Man Writes Poetry as Medicine for Grief

Posted on March 24, 2010 - by Kathryn Williams Raths

Ed Gray of Howell, Michigan, is reaching out to others by sharing his story, a bereavement story of both sadness and triumph. He lost his parents and his wife in just over one year’s time. His mother grew tired fighting a 37-year battle with breast cancer and stopped her treatment. His father died about four months later. Ed’s wife fought Lou Gehrig’s disease for nearly three years before she died. Ed described this painful period, “It was an intense time caring for all three; I focused most attention to the one closest to death at the time; first Mom, then Dad, […]

Poem: A Struggle Within

Posted on March 23, 2010 - by Deborah Tornillo

Fall of 2007 He opened the Gates of Heaven. He took them By their hand. To a Promised Land. He showed them A shining light. An Eternal Life. Spring of 2010 Still struggling and Missing them. In this distant land He promised to Hold my hand. Still struggling and Missing them. A struggle within. Deborah Ann Tornillo Author, 36 Days Apart Copyright© 2010 http://www.deborahtornillo.com