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.
SORT BY RELATIONSHIP
You Did The Best You Could
January 5, 2016
There is something very important I want to share with you, so listen deep. As a bereavement counselor I speak with numerous people on a daily basis about loss. The number one thing I feel from people is guilt. The words pour out of them, “If I hadn’t take them to the hospital…” or “What if I hadn’t put him in a nursing home?” “I should have called her more.” Let me tell you something: In those moments when you made the decisions to do or say what you did, you were reacting from that moment and the love in […]
Hope With Red Feathers
January 1, 2016
“Hope is the thing with feathers.” This quote from Emily Dickinson never made a lot of sense to me; my primary association with it resulted from Woody Allen’s poking fun in one of his 1970’s books. Recently, an odd experience, maybe some would say a coincidence, caused me to see this pronouncement in a new light. In the six years since my 41-year-old brother died, I often found it difficult to feel a sense of hope. Dictionary.com defines hope as “the feeling that what is wanted can be had, or that events will turn out for the best.” A simplistic […]
First Christmas Without Mom
December 22, 2015
I’m searching the internet for ways to get through this first festival of lights season without my mother. The articles I read about loss and the holidays offer helpful tips for getting through it. So many helpful suggestions: find meaning in your traditions, ask for help, plan ahead, discover what has most value to you, change it up, keep it the same, leave an empty chair at the table, feel the absence. This small list hardly scratches the surface. And what I keep thinking is, skip to January! This is not an option I would actually take, because in some […]
Marci Servizi: Death of a Father
December 20, 2015
During the National Alliance for Grieving Children, Marci Servizi connects with Dr. Gloria Horsley to tell her about the death of her father. Based in Seattle, Servizi works with Safe Crossings, which raises money to give to other organizations that serve those who experienced a loss. Her father died on her 12th birthday. As the youngest of ten children, she had a lot of support in her Catholic family. Still, the entire family was grieving at the same time. There wasn’t the same kind of support then that there is now. When she lost her father, when people said, “What […]
Not Home for the Holidays
December 3, 2015
I vividly remember the day that one of my one of my closest friends called me at 1:30 AM to tell me that her Dad had just died. She had left the hospital and although she was audibly distressed, she was still able to drive herself home. “Do you want me to come over?” I compassionately offered. Projecting myself into her shoes, I just could not imagine losing my dad – or my precious, loving mom, for that matter. She has just lost both. That thought petrified me. My dad did indeed die, several years after my friend’s losses. My […]
Ashley Maderr: Death of a Father
November 21, 2015
At the National Alliance for Grieving Children conference, Dr. Gloria Horsley talked with Ashley Maderr, who lost her father. Together with her mother and sister, Maderr now serves the bereaved. Located in California, Maderr was 20 years old when her father died. As an adult child, it can often be a disenfranchised loss that isn’t recognized. It was one of the toughest things she’s been through. As a daughter, she didn’t realize how much she needed her dad until he was gone. Going through dating and being an older sister, it was critical to have a male perspective. At 20 […]
Grief to Grace : Mary Potter Kenyon
November 19, 2015
Mary Potter Kenyon is the author of three books. Her most recent is Refined by Fire: A Journey of Grief and Grace, which details her process of grief and healing after the loss of her mother, husband, and grandson in a three-year period. Refined by Fire recently received the 2014 USA Best Book award. She is a frequent speaker and columnist of the topics of grief, loss, and healing. https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/audio.opentohope.com/OpenToHope_MaryKenyon.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Family Lives On: Christine Cavalieri
November 12, 2015
Chris Cavalieri is the Executive Director of Family Lives On with the mission of supporting the lifelong emotional well being of children whose mother or father have died. Their tradition program provides opportunities for intentional remembering, creating a safe haven for grief, communication and celebration. https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/audio.opentohope.com/OpenToHope_ChristineCavalieri.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Fourteen Days to Heaven: Being with Mom at End of Life
November 2, 2015
The phone rang early one morning as I was getting ready to go to work. “Come quick, something is wrong with your mother!” came my dad’s voice from the other end of the line. We quickly got into the car and headed the eighth mile to my mom and dad’s house. My mother had toxemia when I was born. Her blood pressure had gone sky high, and caused her to be blind for several months after I was born. Later, the doctors at Mayo Clinic could not believe I had lived when she told them I was two years […]
