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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Navigating Grief and Trials: Kathleen D. Hamilton
July 24, 2014
Kathleen D. Hamilton has suffered a number of tragedies including the deaths of her mother and twelve year old daughter. She has coped with a brain-injured son and has grieved two broken marriages. Reaching out to help others she has been a facilitator with “The Compassionate Friends” and has worked in the funeral industry. She is the author of A Legitimate Journey: Navigating Grief and Trials in the Light. https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/audio.opentohope.com/Kathleen-D-Hamilton.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Handling Grief, Loss of Our Parents: Nina Impala
July 3, 2014
Nina Impala has both personal and professional experience with bereavement. She has lost both parents and has recruited and trained hospice volunteers. Nina is a Spiritual Grief Counselor who gives people tools to cope through her process of using HeartSight™. She is the author of Dearly Departed: What I Learned About Living From The Dying. https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/audio.opentohope.com/Nina-Impala.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Julie Saeger Nierenberg: Death of My Dad
June 26, 2014
Julie is a writer, editor and author coach. Inspired by the journey of love and release through her father’s end of life. Julie writes to contribute to a cultural shift in how we prepare ourselves and support others in the final chapter of life. She is the author of Daddy, this is it. Being-with My Dying Dad https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/audio.opentohope.com/Julie-Saegernierenberg.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Jill Kraft Thompson Rebuilding A Life After Losing Five People
June 19, 2014
Jill Kraft Thompson had a life filled with love: an adoring husband, two young precious sons, a devoted mother, and a close extended family. Jill’s story begins as everyone’s worst nightmare. In 2002 she lost five close family members in a car crash that she survived. Her beloved young sons, husband, mother and niece were gone. https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/audio.opentohope.com/Jill-Kraft-Thompson.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Father-Daughter Bond Continues Beyond the Grave
June 15, 2014
My last visit with my father began three days before his passing. I had known him as a man of few words, so the intensity and depth of the conversation we shared about the life we had spent together marked me indelibly. He emphasized that he wished he “had been able to do more [for me],” “to give [me] more.” My simple response, “Daddy, you gave me life; you gave me my education. I could ask for nothing more,” affirmed the roles that he had played in my life. I left my father’s room that evening believing I would never […]
Letter to a Lost Father
June 13, 2014
Dear Dad, It’s been 26 years since we last celebrated Father’s Day together. I think about your time here on Earth and I rejoice in your spirit. Born in the early 1900’s, you saw so many things. You were raised Jewish, yet you chose to let us be who we were; it did not matter to you if we were Jewish or Christian, as long as we had a faith in God. I remember your love of Christmas trees and we had one every year, just because you didn’t. You said you wanted one as a child and couldn’t have […]
Lucky Charms: It Isn’t Just a Cereal
June 10, 2014
LUCKY CHARMS: It isn’t just a Cereal “See a penny, pick it up and all day long you’ll have good luck.” “Don’t step on a crack or you’ll break your mother’s back.” “When you see a hummingbird, think of me.” I grew up hearing the first of these two “sayings” from my father, which resulted in, while walking on cracked cement, a strange, hopping gait and a jar full of pennies stashed in my childhood closet. They became so much more than superstitious sayings to me. They became my prayers. The third saying/prayer about the hummingbird was shared with me […]
Danita Ogandaga: Overcoming the Orphaned Spirit
June 5, 2014
Danita Ogandaga is the founder Hope Starts Today and the Orphan No More podcast. She lost both of her parents by the age of twenty-one. She teaches on the topics of grief, restoration, hope and resilience. She is the author of the audio book Overcoming the Orphan Spirit. https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/audio.opentohope.com/Danita-Ogandaga.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Unravelling of Life … My Sweater
June 3, 2014
The sweater clothed me It sheltered me daily It covered my wounds It kept me safe It was comfortable The occasional yarns that dangled or sprout forth Were quickly yanked away or shorn down No need for them. What I had clothed me One day Father Jim hugged me A priest on a airplane ride I was always afraid of priests His Mr. Rogers sweater was pilled and heavily laden with miscolored shreds from travels bumping up against rough surfaces, forests of stray colors and threads lay pocketed My gleaming bracelet within the hug caught his […]
