What a difference a year makes. Last year this time I was planning a wedding, making plans to move my daughter and I 16 hours away from our friends and family to IN, completely in love with a wonderful man. Now today I am trying to gracefully survive a tremendous loss.
In 2006, my first love […]
I Used to Always Love April
???????????????????????? By Kim Hodne
I used to always love April
The month you were born
You loved it too
The fifth day is special in my heartBut now it brings a special sorrow
You?d be turning twenty-nine
I lost you at twenty -four
So young
I would love to meet you half way
Somewhere between Heaven and Earth
Just […]
Anger is one of the most common emotions that surfaces when grief and loss have to be confronted. It is a normal human response if you feel abandoned, betrayed, disrespected or undeserving of the experience you are facing. It tells us we have to do something.
If you have been taught early in life that anger […]
Face it, times are tough.
Can you afford to stay in your own home? Are you well enough to manage everything on your own?
Are you recently widowed and wonder if living by yourself is such a good idea?
Are you a boomer or sandwich generationer wondering how to care for/pay for your kids, your parents and save […]
Do you need to be needed?
Carl Jung called it, “The Wounded Healer.”
Caregivers, whether they come by it willingly or are drug into their caregivingroles, become accustomed to being needed. It’s comforting? and satisfying to know that you have a purpose.
But what do you mean when you say, “wounded healer?” ?Is that a bad thing?
Wounded healer […]
Note: Often we encourage you to “be gentle” with yourselves when you are grieving. In the whirlwind of emotions we are experiencing on the grief path, we sometimes just can’t fathom what that means to us. Ellen Besso has given us some clear guidlines on how we can take care of ourselves?during this harsh journey.?Drs. […]
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I would like to share a fond Memorial Day memory of my deceased mother, Phyllis Jensen.? Mother was a member of the Civic Improvement Club in our small town.? One of her duties was to wire red cellophane poppies on to the white crosses which marked the graves of veterans in our local cemetery.? Faithfully […]
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I Think of You
????????? By Catherine Punton Wilson
I think of you and start to cry,
It breaks my heart that you had to die.
Your final days were filled with even greater pain,
Each day was a struggle, each night a torment
But never did you complain.
Only did you say ” Mom, I want my Normal Life Back”
As the […]
I was wondering if someone out there could help me to understand or help my daughter (Jacquie). My son-in-law Clinton passed away from melanoma cancer in June of 2006. They together had 3 children and were very much in love with each other. Clinton was 36 years old and a very wonderful husband, father and […]
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Writer Frederic Luskin believes we can make the choice to forgive — and to take offense in the first place
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Open to Hope is an online community offering inspirational stories of loss, hope and recovery. We believe hope is the bridge between loss and recovery.
