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The Sounds of Grief

Posted on August 11, 2025 - by Lindsey Whissel Fenton

The Sounds of Grief Since my mom died, I’ve been cataloguing the sounds of grief. So far, I’ve documented five. Sound I. My immediate, acute grief had a specific sound. You might recognize it. If you’ve ever balled up a soft object, buried your face in it, and screamed with all your might, this particular grief sound will carry a note of familiarity. I didn’t make it in time to say goodbye to my mom in the hospital room. So I said it later, while she lay on a slab in the morgue. When I got home, I walked […]

When It Feels Like You’ve Got Nothing Left

Posted on July 21, 2025 - by Greg Adams

“I’ve got nothing left.” Have you ever felt like that? If you have, you have lots of company. When someone who meant the world to you dies, it can feel like all the good in your world has died, too. It can feel like everything precious has been taken away, leaving you with empty arms and grasping hands. You can feel like there is nothing left. Well-meaning friends and family try to remind you otherwise: You still have people who love you. Maybe you still have your spouse or partner. You have your memories. Perhaps you have other kids. You […]

Overcoming Fear After Losing Son to Suicide

Posted on July 10, 2025 - by Jean Williams

Fear. Terror. Do these words describe your present state because of loss of a loved one? I know it did mine after our son, Joshua, died by suicide over six years ago. Do I still feel this way from time to time? Yes, but with God’s mercy, I passed through and out of the terror over Joshua being gone. Psalms 56:3 is fitting: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” (KJV) Hard to practice living that verse? Of course, especially when you’ve lost a child. I walked around full of terror that first year after Joshua left […]

The Path Through Loneliness

Posted on July 7, 2025 - by Barbara Ann Fields

The Path Through Loneliness A plethora of emotions accompany the loss of a loved one. The dark shadow of loneliness, however, tends to hover longer, seemingly with no promise of an exit date. People grappling with grief often lament, “If only I could shake this loneliness, I believe things would turn around for me.” The unfortunate truth is that, although the pain of loss diminishes over time, the deceased, on some level, will always be missed. The void created by an individual’s absence cannot be filled by another because no two people are exactly alike. The death of a hospice […]

Grief is Not a Neat Package

Posted on July 7, 2025 - by Dr. Audrey Davidheiser

Grief is Not a Neat Package I hate grieving. There. I said it. A part of me did, actually. The part that abhors the tears I shed while writing this book. But I am not the only one with parts. Your soul comes prepackaged with them too. Have you noticed the maelstrom of reactions following your loss? Perhaps maintaining concentration has been hard, as your mind keeps slipping to memories of the deceased or fears about tomorrow. Your digestive system feels wonky. Reminders of your loss spur shame, guilt, perhaps even both. Maybe you avoid crying at all costs. These […]

How to Support Those Grieving

Posted on July 7, 2025 - by Hope Reger

The Limitations of “Let Me Know If You Need Anything” Phrases like “If you need anything, just ask” or “I’m here if you need me” are commonly offered after the loss of a loved one. While often well-intentioned, these words can serve more to relieve the speaker than to provide real help. In my five years running a nonprofit grief support program and listening to participants, I’ve learned that such offers rarely translate into meaningful support. People often say, “I offered to help, but I never heard back,” as though their responsibility ends with the offer. Why the Bereaved Struggle […]

Fingerprints: Losing a Husband, Living with Grief

Posted on June 30, 2025 - by Kim Shute

Losing a Husband When he used to take off his socks next to our bed and throw them ceremoniously to the cork floor, he would spread the fingers of his chubby peasant hands on the wall of our bedroom to keep his balance before rocketing into bed beside me. It took at least three years to have a finished wall in that bedroom. Seeing his greasy fingerprints all over my carefully chosen hue of green with a matte finish made me grouchy. Now, I recline with four pillows surrounding me as I look at his fingerprints, which are almost all […]

Living and Dying Together

Posted on June 30, 2025 - by John Wenderlein

Rosita and David Actions better explain love, as love is an action word. It requires a series of give and takes between a man and a woman to fulfill just a short 60,70 years on this earth together. I want to share a love story that I encountered during my time as a Hospice Chaplain years ago. Rosita and David had come from entirely different lives. Rosie, as she would have me call her, came from a very conservative, extreme spiritual family in Argentina. Her father was a lawyer and her mother a teacher. And David was born and raised […]

Pregnant After My Mother’s Death

Posted on June 30, 2025 - by Natashia Pillow

Pregnant After My Mother’s Death I woke up screaming, as if I’d had a nightmare, only to realize this is my new reality. Screaming, crying, breathless, heart aching so deeply, I’m not sure it will ever heal. My stomach in knots feeling like I could puke or poop myself at any moment. My mom is dead. My dad and I found her yesterday. Today is my birthday. FUCK THIS! I don’t ever want to celebrate this day again. I can’t even think about eating, my world in shambles. Oh, by the way, I’m pregnant with my first child, not even […]

Grief Illiteracy: How Avoidance Adds More Pain

Posted on June 30, 2025 - by Linda Henderson

What Grief Illiteracy Has Taught Me Losing Andrea irrevocably altered my life most profoundly. Child-loss changes the course of one’s life forever. My world is a different place, and I am not the same person I was before. There’s the deep personal pain that words are unable to touch, but there’s also something else I didn’t expect: the way the world responded. Or didn’t. In the months after Andrea died, I learned that many people don’t know how to deal with Grief, especially when it’s not their own. I call it grief illiteracy: the widespread discomfort, avoidance, and misunderstanding around […]