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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New Love and Memories After the Death of My Wife
April 21, 2025
New Love After the Death of My Wife Monday, September 27, 2021 We consolidated Lynn’s clothes into a closet and a bureau, unearthed her beautiful scarves and handbags, and put them in a couple of baskets in the living room. We went through her family photos, collected her sketchbooks into one pile, and flipped through years of drawings. The whole process was immensely sad. Every day brought dozens of touchstones of our shared life: photos that I examined, perfumes that I sniffed, and handwritten notes that I read until I couldn’t bear to read further. I was sad from morning […]
Picking Up the Pieces after the Death of My Wife
April 21, 2025
Picking Up the Pieces First comes denial. I tell myself that because Lynn and I got to say all those goodbyes, because she knew how much I loved her, because we had no regrets about our choices, my grief should be shallower or shorter than most. In post after post, I emphasize the positives—as when, just two days after she died, I describe riding around Central Park looking forward to my life ahead. But really, I am in shock, as when your body and mind conspire to shield you from the pain of an accident. For more than six years, […]
Watching My Wife Die: Carrying the Tiger
April 21, 2025
Watching My Wife Die “Sometimes you have to say enough is enough.” It is late afternoon. Lynn and I are in the living room, she in her wheelchair, me in a folding chair in front of her. There is one light on, leaving most of the room in shadow. Dr. Hellman speaks calmly, gently. “If you go back to the hospital now, you will probably never come out,” he says. “The radiation may slow it a little, but there’s just too much cancer. We’re not going to beat it, and the treatments will make you even weaker. If there’s ever […]
Carrying the Tiger: Living with Cancer, Dying with Grace, Finding Joy While Grieving
April 21, 2025
Carrying the Tiger: Living with Cancer, Dying with Grace, Finding Joy While Grieving Click here to learn more on the author’s website: Carrying the Tiger — Tony Stewart
The Shock of Spouse Loss: Carrying the Tiger
April 21, 2025
The Shock of Spouse Loss Sunday, September 28, 2014 It’s an unseasonably warm Sunday in late September. I am working at my computer while my wife, Lynn, lies on our bed across the hall, sketching our elderly cat, Jack. She’s spent a lot of time like that these past two months, feeling increasingly crummy for some reason the doctors can’t figure out. It began as chronic indigestion, then acid reflux, and recently bouts of diarrhea. She’s stopped enjoying her meals and is losing a lot of weight. Her doctors have given her every kind of scope and scan they can […]
Carolann Iadarola: Dating After Spouse Loss
March 27, 2025
Carolann Iadarola received a BA in Media Communications and an M.Ed. in Instructional Technologies. She is the Creative Director and President of Sassy Townhouse Living, a lifestyle website collaborating with companies across the globe. Carolann is the creator and host of a YouTube channel called Ethereal Encounters Unveiled, where she collaborates with and interviews a wide range of authors and topics. She is also a member of and contributes live stream shows weekly to the United Public Radio Network And UFO Paranormal Radio Network – 105.3 on the Gulf Coast and 107.7 FM in New Orleans. https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/www.opentohope.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Carolann-Iadarola_-Dating-After-Spouse-Loss.mp3Podcast: Play in new window […]
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Melissa Red Hoffman: Meaning Making After Traumatic Loss
February 27, 2025
Are you feeling alone after a traumatic loss? Join Dr’s Gloria and Heidi Horsley and their guest Melissa Red Hoffman, MD. Red is an acute care surgeon at Mission Hospital Asheville, NC and one of only 90 US surgeons board-certified in Hospice and Palliative Care. On this show she shares with us how she found meaning and hope after surviving two multiple violent deaths including the murder of her father and the suicide of her boyfriend. She is a podcaster, writer, researcher and leader in the field of Palliative Care. Be sure to catch her TED Talk. https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/www.opentohope.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Melissa-Red-Hoffman_-Meaning-Making-After-Traumatic-Loss.mp3Podcast: Play in […]
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Widow Wonders Whether New Partner is Stuck in Grief
February 26, 2025
Is My New Partner Stuck in Grief? Question from reader: I am currently dating a widower who feels the need to publish a picture of his ex-wife in the local newspaper twice a year, on her birthday and date of death. He has been doing this for five years. We have been dating for four-and-a half-years. My husband died suddenly of a heart attack just a month after my companion’s wife died following a two-year battle with colon cancer. At this point, I’m not sure how I am tolerating these very public displays of grief. Would you be willing to […]
Julie Ryan: Communicating With Spirits
February 13, 2025
Have you wondered what a deceased pet or loved one would say if they could speak? Join Dr’s Heidi and Gloria Horsley and their guest Julie Ryan Psychic Medium and Medical Intuitive. Julie is a businesswoman, inventor, author, podcaster, and a serial entrepreneur. She is the author of Angelic Attendants and Julie’s Angel Messages books. https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/www.opentohope.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Julie-Ryan_-Communicating-With-Spirits.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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