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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Dressing a Sister for the Afterlife
February 20, 2013
Below is an excerpt from With and Without Her: A Memoir of Being and Losing a Twin. My identical twin sister, a psychologist, has died in Lowell, Massachusetts, from a head wound inflicted by a former patient. We have brought her home to Philadelphia, where my mother and I go to the funeral home to help prepare her body. We go to the funeral home, a Victorian house converted for the dead. My mother and I meet with the cosmetologist who will prepare Deane for a family viewing. He works in something like the back of a flower shop, cool […]
Struggling with older brother's suicide
February 4, 2013
It’s been 11 months (as of yesterday) since I lost my older brother, my only full sibling, to suicide. I still struggle on a daily basis to accept the fact that he is gone and I will never see him again. My heart aches thinking about the emotional turmoil he was going through alone, and how he felt he couldn’t ask me or anyone else in the family for help. And I carry a lot of guilt about the fact that our relationship was so distant in the year leading up to his death. We came from a very dysfunctional […]
Losing My Sister: A Boston Vigil
January 27, 2013
Below is an excerpt from With and Without Her: A Memoir of Being and Losing a Twin. The piece begins the day my sister, a psychologist, was fatally shot by one of her patients. My husband, Dan, and I have traveled from Knoxville, Tennessee, to the Lowell, Massachusetts, hospital where my sister lies dying. It is past twelve, a starless night when we reach St. Joseph’s Hospital. A black cross rises from the roof cornice, and from inside, the dimmed lights of night duty add a blue cast to the windows. We are bending the rules, violating the regular rounds […]
Loss of a sibling before you were born
January 24, 2013
My parents lost my older brother Ben when he was just two days old. He was born with a rare heart condition and was never going to survive. Ben was born 4 years before I was and so I never met him, but I still grieve for him and find that many people don’t really understand why. Ben is spoken about a lot within the family, and we regularly go to his grave so I know I can’t miss him as such because he was never in my life but it always feels as though someone is missing, and I […]
Mary Rockefeller Morgan: Grieving the Loss of a Twin
January 24, 2013
Mary R. Morgan, L.M.S.W. is a licensed psychotherapist and bereaved sibling specializing in working with twinless twins. She lectures on the subject of twin loss and has led a bereavement group for twins whose twin died in the 9/11 World Trade Center disaster. https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/audio.opentohope.com/2013/01/01-Mary-R-Morgan.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
John Duffy; Being Present in Relationships
January 3, 2013
John Duffy is a clinical psychologist, certified life coach, relationship expert, and the author of “The Available Parent”. He is no stranger to loss as ten years ago his younger brother committed suicide. He uses his experiences to help others. His focus is on optimizing satisfaction and joy in relationships, while minimizing fear, judgment and ego. https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/audio.opentohope.com/2012/11/John-Duffy.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Little Blue Box — By Savannah Daly
December 25, 2012
“I love your shoes, Mommy!” I shout excitedly while wobbling toward her wearing her black heels. “Thanks Nannah!” My mom says happily, gently pulling more shoes out of her messy closet. Contributing writer Amy Daly’s daughter, Savannah, wrote this article. She lost her sister several years ago. “I love your shoes, Mommy!” I shout excitedly while wobbling toward her wearing her black heels. “Thanks, Nannah!” Mom says happily, gently pulling more shoes out of her messy closet. I was pulling all the different beautiful shoes onto my tiny feet. I looked over at the closet to see what other shoes […]
Carl David; Suicide Support
December 13, 2012
Carl David is the third descendant of a four-generation art dealer family specializing in American and European nineteenth- and twentieth-century art. He is the author of “Bader Field; How My Family Survived Suicide” the story of how his family lived through his brother’s shocking death by suicide when Carl was just sixteen years old. https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/audio.opentohope.com/2012/11/Carl-David.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Twin-Loss: Healing Memory of Early Twinship
September 29, 2012
Mother announces, “School’s out. It’s time you two had your own gardens. No more family victory garden like we had in Washington. You are old enough to grow your own vegetables. We can eat them at home or maybe if they are really nice, you can try to sell them to your Grandmother and Grandfather.” She stops for a moment and then says, “You should have seen the vegetables we grew when I was little, and the eggs from our chickens we would try to sell to Granny and Granpop Clark.” Our eyes widen at the thought of making some […]
