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
Comedy writer Joe Janes on Truthful Memorialization
December 5, 2013
Truthful memorialization means talking about Mom stoically eating Joe’s tofurkey. Or Mom openly guzzling “horrible things” like caffeine-free diet coke in front of her vegan son. How Joe honors these mischievous moments and more when memory artist Nancy Gershman talks with Joe Janes, a Chicago-based Emmy award-winning comedy writer. Joe teaches comedy writing at The Second City and Columbia College and offers an improvisational writing workshop, “3 Plays. 3 Days. An Intense Writing Intensive.” Joe writes regularly for WNEP Theater and Robot vs. Dinosaur. Visit Joe on his website, joejanes.blogspot.com. Cracking up at a funeral is good for you How to pick a person to sit with the dying […]
Bereavement: ‘A Terrible Beauty’
November 24, 2013
Last week, I was a guest on the Dr. D. Ivan Young radio show to talk about my book, Gracefully Gone. My co-guest Dianne Gray and I also discussed the concept of moving on, moving forward, hell, simply just moving after suffering the loss of a loved one. Dr. Young asked me a question that struck me dumb momentarily, and after the show was over, struck me speechless and almost afraid, as I choked back tears trying to understand the impact of his question. He asked me what it was like for me when my father was diagnosed with brain […]
Alicia Coppola: Death of a Dad
November 14, 2013
Alicia Coppola, actress and writer, is the author of Gracefully Gone, which is based on her beloved father’s and her journals chronicling their journey through his brain cancer and her father’s death. Alicia hopes that by reading and hearing her story people young and old will know that they are not alone with their losses. https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/audio.opentohope.com/2013/11/Alicia-Coppola.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Hanging On Through the Holidays
October 21, 2013
The music, smell of gingerbread, and shimmering lights usually stir up warm holiday memories, but this year something is missing. Actually someone is missing, and the holiday cheer seems to be making things worse. My most intense journey of grief came suddenly, beginning weeks before the holidays with the death of my mom. “Beazy” was more than a mom; she was my best friend. The thought of Christmas without her was impossible to imagine. If you’ve lost someone close this year, you may understand. Maybe you’re wondering how you’ll be able to hang on through the holidays. If you’re tempted […]
Coming Full Circle: A Letter from Daughter to a Mother Who Died Young
September 30, 2013
Ina, my mother, died 13 months after I was born. For most of my life, I felt like a “motherless child.” She became a ghost-like fantasy to me, which is probably why I liked fairytales so much as a kid. Maybe I was wishing for a happy ending. My father remarried when I was four (not a fairytale ending by any means) and the stories and pictures of my mother were buried in the vault of the past. Because Ina did not have an extended family, she got lost in the ether. It felt to me that the only evidence […]
Multiple Losses: ‘Plowing Through the Pain’
September 8, 2013
Easter Sunday 2005 was expected to be like all other traditional Easters…church in the morning followed by the family gathering at my parents. We had anticipated this holiday to be extra special because our mother had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and not knowing the severity, we treasured each moment. Unfortunately the day did not unfold as planned. Tragically, the day started with an early morning phone call to my sister giving the news that her 23 year old daughter had been in a terrible car accident. This being the second catastrophic news to our family, we were almost […]
Man Who Lost Parents As a Child Speaks Through Art
September 6, 2013
If you have spent any time in La Jolla, California over the last decades, you might have seen Chris Canole in one of his many incarnations. This year, for the entire month of August, a series of drawn portraits and illustrations by this local polymath was on display as a one-man show at the Pannikin cafe. A playful conceptualization on the term retrospective, the artist used the show to look back on his life and inward as well. We all have key people for whom we are grateful, but Canole emphasizes that it’s doubly true for him. His parents died […]
Franklin Cook: Dealing with Parental Suicide
August 22, 2013
Franklin Cook, whose father died by suicide in 1978, is a consultant, speaker, and trainer in peer grief support. After volunteering as a support group facilitator, he became an advisor to the Suicide Prevention Action Network and National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, and he is now developing suicide survivor services based on life coaching principles. https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/audio.opentohope.com/2013/07/Franklin-Cook_02.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Jesse E. Roberts: Making Sense of Parent Loss
June 27, 2013
Jesse Roberts lost both of his parents before he graduated from high school. His church and a special school teacher mentored him. Jesse was determined that he would not let his grief destroy him, but instead would use it to help others. He is the author of Katie the Ladybug: Explaining Emotions of Grief to a Child. https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/audio.opentohope.com/2013/06/Jessie-Roberts.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
