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 3,000 articles written by our Open to Hope authors.
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Mother’s Day: A Happy and Sad Occasion
April 6, 2015
One Mother’s Day after another passes by since I lost my daughter in September 2006. It does not get easier as years go by. How can this day not intensify my grief after losing one of my three children? Mother’s Day will never be the same ever! This day that used to bring me joy will always be blended with sadness. It is yet another reminder that one of my children left a big void in my home and life. On this day, I always have this wish to go back in time to when all my three children woke […]
Turning Tragedy into Hope
March 17, 2015
March 17th is normally for most people a day of celebration – St. Patrick’s Day. What a saint he was too, not only bringing a message of hope to the Irish, but also to the rest of the British Isles during his lifetime. March 17th, 2011, was a day that changed my life for all the wrong reasons, as this was the day I lost my 12-year-old daughter, Charlotte. The day started out like any other, Charlotte going to school, coming home, doing her homework, and gobbling her food down before rushing out to her dance school. Charlotte was probably […]
Can Grief Be a Friend?
March 7, 2015
Anne LaMott, in her book Traveling Mercies, writes, “Don’t get me wrong. Grief sucks; it really does. Unfortunately, though, avoiding it robs us of Life, of the now, of the sense of living spirit…The bad news is that whatever you use to keep the pain at bay robs you of the flecks and nuggets of gold that feeling grief will give you.” Could one of these gold nuggets be that grief can actually be a friend? In no way did grief feel friendly in the early devastating weeks after our 25-year-old married daughter Krista was killed while volunteering in Bolivia. […]
Lent as a Verb, Not a Noun
February 20, 2015
In Christendom Lent, from the Latin for “forty,” is the annual season of fasting and penitence for 40 weekdays before Easter. But, as someone in mourning, I’m having a hard time thinking about giving up chocolate or staying off Facebook as anything as penitential as the sudden death of our son Mack, 8, on New Year’s Eve 2012. The standard preparation for Lent asks us to step away from our busy lives and consider our mortality: for you were made from dust, and to dust you will return. Until Mack died, Lent was a kind of intrusion into my busy […]
Grieving a Future I’ll Never Have
February 19, 2015
When grief is new, it is excruciating and overwhelming. Many people get stuck in a quicksand of pain that is so thick and intense, it feels impossible to escape. As you struggle through those first few days, weeks, and months, you begin to be pulled so far down into it, you can’t imagine how you’ll survive. I certainly felt that way. I’m grateful that those days are behind me. And yet you do survive. Despite all odds, you wake up each morning. Your body still functions. You find a way to quietly camoflauge yourself within with the “normal” world around […]
Years After Daughter’s Death, an Extraordinary Day
February 8, 2015
I have been to our university’s graduation parties several times since my daughter passed away, but they were never held in the same hall that her high school graduation had taken place at. I did not step in that building since her graduation eight years ago. I woke up apprehensive of what was awaiting me this morning. Everyone at home knew that I was uncomfortable. My son tried to reassure me that I would be all right as I kissed him on my way out with the gown in my hands. My daughter gave me a hug. Despite my feelings, […]
Writing the Gratitude!
February 6, 2015
When Daniel died, I wanted more. More smiles, more birthdays, more words, more experiences. Like any mom, I wanted my child to have a full and healthy life. When Daniel breathed his last, all I had was four years and five months and eight days. He hadn’t made it to five; he hadn’t even made it to four-and-a-half. We had more sunsets to watch, more waves to play in, more watermelon to drip down our faces. I felt cheated. My journal reflected my anguish and sorrow. I wrote day after day about how unfair this all was—for me, for my […]
Shifting: Child-Loss Splits Mom Between Heaven and Earth
February 3, 2015
For all accounts and purposes I am a strong woman. I have been through some extraordinary situations and lived to tell about them. And the telling has been my mission for the last six months. Sharing my story, educating fellow child-loss survivors about meditation, energy and intuition. I preach about connecting with your child after they have crossed over. I preach about what it looks like and feels like and how it can help you feel your way through the unimaginable loss you’ve experienced. The problem is in the preaching, I forgot the practice. I guess I didn’t forget so […]
Military Loss of a Son: Don Lipstein
January 22, 2015
Don Lipstein, is a Peer Mentor Support and Training Coordinator for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors of Military Loss (TAPS). Don joined the TAPS Team in July, 2012, after receiving support due to the suicide death of his oldest son, Joshua. He plays an important role in providing hope and healing to military survivors who are just beginning their grief journey. TAPS has helped him find purpose and meaning from his own personal loss. https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/audio.opentohope.com/OpenToHope_DonLipstein.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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