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.

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Mother Maintains Contact with Deceased Son

Posted on April 17, 2024 - by Sheri Perl

Mother Loses Son to Addiction To all of my fellow parents of deceased children — mothers and fathers — I offer greetings.  I too have suffered this unthinkable loss and […]

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The Death of the Love of Your Life

Posted on April 15, 2024 - by Jane P. Williams

A Grief Perspective A grief perspective is personal.  It is an individual’s way of thinking about and understanding their own grief.  As grief is unique to every person and every […]

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Doctor Journeys to the Afterlife

Posted on April 15, 2024 - by Kim Pierce

DOCTOR ON A JOURNEY In an earlier Open to Hope essay, I wrote about the riveting After-Death experience of a friend I call Chief. The anesthesiologist had a heart attack […]

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After Husband’s Death, Dreams Must be Reinvented

Posted on April 14, 2024 - by Christine Thiele

Dreams Die with Your Spouse One of the hardest struggles I’ve found about widowhood is that the life you had before pretty much dies with your spouse. Well, at least […]

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Soul and Grief Connection

Posted on April 8, 2024 - by Ilana Estelle

The soul and grief are deeply intertwined in many spiritual and philosophical traditions. It’s only natural that after someone dies, those they leave behind will start to question and want […]

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When a Child Dies of Drug Addiction

Posted on April 8, 2024 - by Joni Norby

A Child Dies of Drug Addiction Ben was an addict. That declaration is enormously painful and takes even more courage to write than Ben died at age nineteen. He was […]

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Entering a New Relationship after Death of a Life Partner

Posted on March 30, 2024 - by Vicki Panagotacos, PhD FT

Ready to Enter a New Relationship One of the most charming questions I ever received in one of my second-year spousal-loss classes came from a middle-aged man named Sam. He […]

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Do We Ever ‘Get Over’ the Death of a Child?

Posted on March 27, 2024 - by Anne Dionne

Getting Over a Child-Loss There was a time when I believed that people should “get over” their grief by the 12th month following a loss. After all, isn’t that what […]

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Loss of a Child: A Pain Like No Other

Posted on March 26, 2024 - by Louise Lagerman

A Pain Like No Other All loss is hard. All loss is lonely. But there is something about child-loss that puts it in a unique category. I have experienced other […]

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Poem Eases Sister’s Pain

Posted on March 25, 2024 - by Judy Lipson

After our sister Jane’s death, Margie and I, working long retail hours, did not communicate very often. Although we did not speak about our loss, Margie sent me a poem […]

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