Make Time to Grieve, and Celebrate, During the Holidays

    When your heart is broken in grief, you’re not sure how you are going to get through the next day, much less the holidays. Holidays should be spent with the ones we love. It’s a time of celebration, of giving to those we care about. So, if your loved one has died, please don’t think I am in any way making light of the hole you must feel in the center of your being. I only wish to offer ways…

    Researcher Seeks Sibling-Loss Survivors

    My name is Kaitlin Carrozza, and I am a doctoral student at Loyola University in Maryland. I am completing my dissertation on sibling loss, and I'd like your help with my study. The current study investigates individuals' pattern of relating to others, how they cope following the death of a sibling, and their relationship satisfaction. If you have experienced the death of a sibling, and are interested in expanding our knowledge about the experience of sibling loss, then you would…

    Using Antidepressant Medication in Grief

    Question from a Reader: About four weeks ago, I came off an antidepressant which allowed the unresolved grief issues over my brother's death to surface. I believe that the antidepressant kept me from fully grieving his loss, which I am in the process of doing now.  A colleague, therapist, and good friend who has known me over the years knows exactly where I am and says perhaps just a small dosage of an antidepressant (not the one that I was…

    Six Months After Sister’s Murder, an Arrest and More Questions

    When my sister was murdered in her home in September of 2009, my life changed forever. The questions that flood your mind in these circumstances are unbearable. Not knowing who murdered my sister was all-consuming. Every day, I waited for my phone to ring, to hear the detective's voice telling me an arrest was made. I tried to prepare myself for that day. How would I react? Would I be overjoyed? Would I feel relief? There is no script for…

    Following Sister’s Murder, Questions Abound

    How many of us have watched the news, listened to the terrible details of a homicide and thought to ourselves "that poor family"? I would venture to say most of us have had that thought. I did. I would hear news like that think to myself or say to my husband, "that poor family," and my life continued on. On September 18, 2009, I unfortunately became one of those poor families. My sister was found dead in her home. Her…

    Cancer Catches Up With Military Hero

    As told by Anthony J. Amoroso: Heroes aren't supposed to be ordinary.  Yet that's what my brother was:  an ordinary guy living his life the best he knew. If he was just an ordinary guy, what was it that made him a hero?  He was my big brother. We were a large Italian family in Boston:  Angelo and I had five sisters.  It was rare and wonderful when we finally got our turn in the one bathroom in our house!…

    First Hours After a Sister’s Murder: Big Questions

    Many people have suffered some kind of loss of a loved one through death.  Personally, I've lost both sets of grandparents, my father, two uncles and four aunts, not to mention family friends. But nothing prepared me for the questions -- and complications -- that followed my sister's death. My sister died on September 18, 2009 .  She was found in her home on the bathroom floor. My sister and I shared a wonderful relationship, one of unconditional love and…

    10 Years After Brother’s Suicide, Sister Remembers

    By Cindy My mom runs a website for suicide awareness and prevention, in memory of my brother Keith. I admire her for this. My mom believes that Keith's spirit is communicated through butterflies, dragonflies and jet trail X's in the sky. I love this about my mom. My mom has asked me to write something for her website many times.  She used to ask me once a year to write something, every year around the time of Keith's death. Finally…

    Remembering ‘My Sister and My Best Friend’

    My beloved sister Donna was a gentle, loving, caring soul. She was my trusted confidant, my witness, my cheerleader, and my best friend. She died September 6, 2002, at age 49. Donna was was born three-and-a-half years after me.  She was there for me, I for her. We were giddy and vulnerable with each other.  I remember walking down the street with her, holding her hand, thinking about how lucky I was to have her as my very own sister.…

    Grief and Joy

    When I think of grieving, I think of pain and sadness. I think of my stomach in knots, tears flowing uncontrollably and a broken heart. Joy has no place in grief at first glance. To me, grief is like a precious vase or plate that shatters into pieces. You look at all of your feelings and pieces of love and wonder how you can ever repair it—it feels destroyed. Life isn’t perfect and we will all experience loss and grief.…