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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Accepting a New Life After a Multiple Loss
August 19, 2014
When I was only thirty-three years old, suddenly one day I felt my life was over and my only future was my past. Up until then, my life seemed magical, full of much love and happiness. Everything had been going according to plan. My husband Bart and I had just finished building our house in Idaho, where we wanted to raise our two boys, six-year-old Benjamin and four-year-old Samuel, through their high school years. We were preparing to set off on an adventure of a lifetime, to live in Avezzano, Italy, for one to two years while Bart worked there. […]
Dream After Husband’s Suicide Reassures Wife
August 13, 2014
Reprinted from the book, Special Dream, by Luellen Hoffman, following the death of Robin Williams Introduction: My husband suffered from what is now recognized as an obsessive-compulsive bipolar disorder. Greg committed suicide in 1987, when he was thirty-two years old. In his unfortunate brilliance, he was able to hide his problems from the psychiatrists with whom he worked at a well-known university hospital. Greg’s inner turmoil was tragic. It was during the year after his death that the following dream gave me much reassurance. The Special Dream: I am sitting at our old oak table in the dining room area. […]
Reflections of my Independence as a Widow
June 20, 2014
I consider myself an independent woman, something that when I was a young girl I would have been very proud of. I would have been proud of the fact that I had a good job, proud of the fact that I had my own place, proud of the fact that I supported myself, and that my finances were in order. Proud of the fact that I was a published author, and extremely proud of the fact that I was confident in making decisions and handling my affairs. Yes, I am an independent woman, but I am also a widow, which […]
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
Comedy About Widowhood
June 9, 2014
Marriage jokes about her late husband’s snoring. Widow jokes about their one-sided conversations. This and more when memory artist, Nancy Gershman talks with standup comedian and attorney, Anita Milner about roasting beloved partners who die. Anita works with many widowed men and women – from the well-adjusted to the lonely hearts. Visit Anita on www.anitamilner.com. Passing away quickly? Throw a Good Bye party Roast your late husband (only if your complaints are universal) The terminally ill are naturals at physical comedy A dead spouse can be more attentive than a live one If you’re making a shrine, stick to dignified ceremonial objects Some […]
The Faces of Disenfranchised Grief: An Interview with Peggy Sapphire
May 17, 2014
The following are introductory remarks by Peggy Sapphire, author of two poetry collections (A Possible Explanation, Partisan Press, In the End a Circle, Antrim House ’09). I got into the field of death and dying to explore of my own “disenfranchised grief. In my case, my ex-spouse, diagnosed over the last seven years, with two terminal illnesses, has caused an extended and more enlightened consideration of the impact of his death on the significant period of our marriage on my personal history. The writing process was both healing and revelatory. Healing can include creativity, rituals or any other ideas you […]
Removing the Kimono of Mourning: Interview with Anne Carson
May 17, 2014
One of the most important things in anyone’s bereavement process is to find what works personally/individually. There is an opportunity for much creativity in this process. The video features me (Anne Carson) reading the title poem in my collection, Removing the Kimono, and describing how the death of my husband prompted me to write a series of poems about our relationship, his sickness and death and my bereavement. I talk about how our Western cultures aren’t very good at supporting bereaved people and how we can learn from other cultures about this. While my husband was sick and then in […]
Losing a Fiance: Wedding Turned to Funeral
May 15, 2014
Recently my twenty-six-year-old niece Kate lost her fiancé in a car accident just two days before their wedding. In addition to her deep grief, Kate also had to face many issues because they were not yet married. First, I believe she was robbed of memories. When I lost my husband, at least I had almost forty years of memories to help sustain me. Kate and her fiancé did not even have the chance to begin as a married couple. Emotionally, I feel her loss is so much tougher than mine was. Not only did she lose the future she had […]
Reconciling Your Past, Present and Future After Loss
May 15, 2014
When you’re mourning the loss of a loved one, it’s very natural and easy to get trapped in your memories of the past and how things used to be. Let’s take a moment to examine your past, as well as the present and the future, and how this exercise can help you to better understand the grief process. If you will, imagine your past, present and future like three pieces of paper all tied together with a string running through the middle of each. If you were to pick up one end of the string and dangle it in the […]
