Open to Hope Articles

Do you want to read stories of others who have been where you are? Are you looking for bereavement help, and advice? Look no further. We offer over 7,000 articles written by our Open to Hope authors.

Articles Home

Open to hope

Grief Journey Includes Parents’ Deaths, Husband’s Illness

Posted on September 18, 2009 - by Deborah Tornillo

I look back now and ask myself how I got through a year and a half of taking care of my mother and father, who were both diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at the same time. I will never minimize the courage and strength it took to parent my own parents. I will never minimize the courage and strength it took to be by their bedside holding their hand and watching them die, only 36 days apart of each other. Saying goodbye to my father simply taught me how to lose one parent. It did not prepare me for the loss of […]

Read More
Open to hope

Pssssst . . . Your Pajamas Are Open

Posted on September 17, 2009 - by Connie Vasquez

Nobody could possibly have prepared me for what it would be like when my mom died. I’m barely able to describe it, seeing as how I’ve lost my mind and all. What I can tell you is what it feels like. It seems to boil down to, “You’ve completely lost my mind and that’s perfectly normal.” This is typically said to me by someone with a piteous tone and a pat on the head; and I’m grateful as I can be for the tone and the pat! The word that keeps running through my head is torpor (“a state of […]

Read More
Open to hope

Creating a Memory Box with Kids

Posted on September 17, 2009 - by Jewel Sample

Here’s how to create a memory box to celebrate the life of your loved one. Invite your family and friends to join in too. Place any special memento inside that you and your loved one shared. Or write notes to your loved one about the things you would like to share with them about what you have been up to lately. Elephant Memory Box Prep Time: 1-2 Hours Grade Level: Pre-K & up Collect Materials 1 plastic coffee can 1-roll of gray duck tape 2-rolls of colored duck tape 1-empty paper towel roll or 2-empty toilet paper rolls Scissors Magic […]

Read More
Open to hope

Poem: I Dream

Posted on September 17, 2009 - by Jewel Sample

I Dream Like a ripple in a pond, A whisper in the wind, I dream of how things might have been. Your boyish grin Your manly cleft shaped chin Your chubby cheeks Your soft blue eyes Are dreams of days and weeks gone by. Your first little giggle, Your toes that you wiggled Are memories that whisper now and then. Like a ripple in a pond, A whisper in the wind, I can not help but cling to what you might have been. Watching you take your first step as you eye your favorite toy to get. Would it have been […]

Read More
Open to hope

Keeping and Sharing Memories of Our Babies

Posted on September 17, 2009 - by Monica Novak

When my friend Dawn was pregnant with triplets, due the following June, her husband Andy wanted to surprise her with a special piece of jewelry for Christmas.  He had no idea what to get, so the sales lady helped him pick a stone.  “Get her an amethyst because it’s purple, for royalty, and your wife should be treated like a queen,” she said smiling. The triplets never made it to June.  They were born prematurely in February and died within three days of birth.  Dawn had chills the day she realized the bracelet Andy had bought her contained the triplets’ […]

Read More
Open to hope

Rituals

Posted on September 16, 2009 - by Sandy Fox

by Sandy Fox Rituals are part of life. When your child dies, they become even more important. For myself, I have a few rituals I follow to honor and remember my daughter. Today will be one of them. Each time I leave town for more than just a weekend, as I will very soon, I go to the cemetery to see Marcy and clean off her grave. It makes me feel good. No one else cleans it like I do, and I always want it to shine and look good in case others come by to visit and pay their […]

Read More
Open to hope

The Antique Iron Bed, a Source of Comfort

Posted on September 16, 2009 - by Harriet Hodgson

When my husband and I were first married, we didn’t own any furniture.  We lived in furnished apartments for a few years and purchased a home when my husband was a resident at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.  Residents don’t make much money and our house was furnished with hand-me-downs.  My mother and father-in-law gave us an antique, wrought-iron bed to help out. The bed was white and had small, fleur-de-lis decorations.  These were nice, but the most unusual part of the bed was the mattress, which had a picture of a bed bug in the middle and the words […]

Read More
Open to hope

When Behaviors Don’t Make Sense

Posted on September 15, 2009 - by Stan Goldberg

More than 10 years ago, I saw a black and white photograph by Richard Avedon that I still vividly remember. It was taken of a young boy in 1947 in Sicily. He was in the foreground smiling broadly and wearing a suit that was too short in the arms and too tight in the waist.  In the background—softly out of focus—was a tree with a symmetrical oval canopy and a fence that defined the boundary between sky and water. A seemingly bucolic scene unless you looked carefully at the boy. After starring at it for a while, I realized that […]

Read More
Open to hope

Dreamwork as a Healing Path Through Grief

Posted on September 15, 2009 - by Julie Lange

The only way to fully understand what your dreams are telling you is to observe them over time and slowly discover the landscape, the common themes and the inhabitants that populate your dream world.

Read More
Open to hope

‘I’ve Never Been a Crier,” But Now….

Posted on September 15, 2009 - by Nina Bennett

“There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are messengers of overwhelming grief…and unspeakable love.” Washington Irving Here they come again. I have no idea what triggered this waterfall. One moment I was driving to work, thinking of my schedule for the day ahead, and the next thing I knew, the tears were rolling down my cheeks. This is part of the new normal that is me since my precious granddaughter was born still more than five years ago. I’ve never been a […]

Read More

Foundation

Get Involved

Resources

Copyright © 2026 Open to Hope