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Grief Support on the Web

Posted on July 18, 2009 - by Sandy Fox

by Sandy Fox There is a wealth of information on the web dealing with bereavement support. I will list for you some of the sites and leave it up to you to check them out. Perhaps there is something here that will help you on the road to recovery. CHAT ROOMS www.groww.org/chat/gr.shtml GROWW offers a grief recovery chat room that is open 24/7. They also host many types of moderated grief support chats. It is a place where peer groups teach that you have permission to grieve. It is a place of belonging and one that helps you to get […]

A Single White Rose

Posted on July 17, 2009 - by Monica Novak

By Barbara A. Glanz – In 1971 I faced the most difficult experience of my life, one which has changed me forever. I had grown up in a small town in Iowa where families were the center of our lives. I loved dolls and babysitting, and I could hardly wait to be a mother! I even became a high school English teacher because I loved working with young people. In 1965 I graduated from the University of Kansas and began teaching in LaGrange, Illinois, in 1966 I married a wonderful man named Charlie, and on April 2, 1969, we were […]

A culinary genius…

Posted on July 17, 2009 - by Eric Tomei

I used to laugh when my Dad used to make stuff for us in the kitchen. I can tell you it just was not something he was very good at. Thank God, most of us are fortunate to have two parents if for no other reason than not to starve. My mom thankfully made sure we were always well fed. But I have to tell you three and a half years since my Dad’s passing of an unexpected heart attack, I miss some of the stuff he used to make. A culinary genius he was not, but what he made […]

When Life Happens…Hints for Surviving Traumatic Loss

Posted on July 15, 2009 - by admin

by Kent Whitaker Life happens to all of us, but have you noticed that some people come out of trials stronger, and some come out crushed? We can’t stop bad things from happening, but we do have some control over how we respond to them. I wasn’t much better at this than the next guy before my wife and son were murdered five years ago. But I have learned a few tricks. In times of loss we need friends and family more than ever, to help us from feeling isolated and helpless. But the sad thing is, now people don’t […]

Grief in the Workplace

Posted on July 15, 2009 - by Jane Galbraith

The workplace is like your second family to many people. Let’s face it, some people spend more time at work than with their immediate families!! After my mother died I don’t think that I was a very good employee. Of course, I couldn’t show it. You have to try to act like your old “normal” self. That in itself is exhausting. People in the workplace are sympathetic for a short time and then like the rest of society “moves on” and don’t mention anything about it again. In the meantime you feel like the walking wounded getting through your daily […]

Losing Your Role Model

Posted on July 13, 2009 - by Eric Tomei

I love watching Tiger Woods play golf. Now, I can’t stand watching golf particularly, because to me it’s boring. I think I would rather watch paint dry on a wall, but when Tiger is playing I tune in. I like watching excellence in motion. The very way he carries himself both on and off the golf course is something to be admired and duplicated. You get the sense that no matter what situation Tiger is in, he always gets it and understands the broader scope of his actions and how they influence both young and old. Tiger will say himself […]

Signs of Hope

Posted on July 13, 2009 - by Monica Novak

By Monica Novak – When our daughter Miranda was stillborn, the word “hope” took on new meaning for me. Used often to describe the feeling that what you want in the future will happen, for example healing and moving beyond grief, hope for me meant knowing that my daughter had not just disappeared into oblivion. Hope meant knowing that she was still with me, now, and that I didn’t have to wait until so-called death to be with her again. I began asking for her to give me a sign that she was indeed with me. It didn’t take long […]

Signs from our children

Posted on July 11, 2009 - by Sandy Fox

by Sandy Fox, author of I Have No Intention of Saying Good-bye Mothers have an uncanny way of knowing exactly about their child’s health, and in Susan’s case, it was gratifying to have the head of pediatrics realize it when he said to her “You knew all the time, didn’t you?” Susan did. He had no clue how she could have known that her daughter was dying because the doctors kept reiterating until the day the baby died that she would be fine. Susan’s baby was born with multiple physical birth defects and was in and out of the hospital […]

Holding On and Letting Go

Posted on July 11, 2009 - by Monica Novak

By Beth Seyda – After my infant son, Dylan, died I started jotting down various things and scenes I recalled from our experience. I wanted to write about these memories not only to capture the details of Dylan’s life and death as a personal keepsake, but I also wanted to send it to our health care team. I wanted them to learn from our experience. Writing our story felt good, it was therapeutic for me. I wanted to share the parental aspects as well as the medical. Writing allowed me to release all this “stuff”. Afterward, I felt different. For […]

A final farewell…

Posted on July 10, 2009 - by Eric Tomei

As most of the world viewed Michael Jackson’s funeral on TV, it was truly a larger than life experience for a larger than life entertainer. It is really strange when a celebrity dies in this country. I think people finally understand, “Hey we really all are human. Death is going to happen to each one of us.” It is such a big deal to us because of the perceived joy and excitement they have brought to our lives. But here is a news flash: celebrities are just normal people who have been given an extraordinary talent that they have used […]