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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Planning Helps With the ‘Firsts’
November 8, 2008
By Sue Gilbert and Suzanne Redfern – The following is an excerpt from The Grieving Garden, authored by Suzanne Redfern and Susan Gilbert (Hampton Roads Publishing, 2008). In this excerpt, Susan Benveniste, one of the book’s 22 contributors, speaks of her family’s first celebrations, including Thanksgiving, without their daughter, Shelly. Enduring the “firsts” can be one of the hardest obstacles to face. Examples of the firsts are: holidays, birthdays, Mother’s or Father’s Day, and the death-day anniversary. These days can hit with a vengeance, like a blow to the gut. Planning in advance how to celebrate or spend these days […]
Ruby Rose Fox: Death of a Sister
November 6, 2008
Ruby wrote and starred in Little Legacy, a solo performance about family’s journey through bereavement. https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/audio.opentohope.com/2010/11/Ruby-Rose-Fox-110608.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Finding Your Way to a “New Normal”
November 5, 2008
By Clara Hinton — Grief is such a difficult journey, but it becomes especially difficult around the holiday season. Everywhere you look, there are reminders of family times, laughter and cheer, and times spent sitting around the table telling stories and eating a delicious meal together. For the person who has lost a family member, the holidays take on an entirely new meaning. There are thoughts of emptiness, loneliness, incompleteness and a fear and dread of facing the holidays without their loved one there. The family is no longer whole. Following the death of my 13-year-old sister, the holidays changed […]
Struggling to Survive Brother’s Suicide
October 31, 2008
Janet writes in: I, along with my sister and now deceased brother, have always suffered from mental illness — hereditary-based and environmental. We grew-up in an immensely dysfunctional home, with a raging alcoholic father. My sister has bipolar disorder, and I suffer from depression. I knew my brother planned on killing himself and argued for my parents to look for him after they had had a terrible fight and he left our home in a rage. They said because he was addicted to drugs, he was on his own. He was missing for 2 weeks, until a reporter found him […]
Mourning a Brother Lost to Violence
October 10, 2008
Sameena from Charlotte writes: I am looking for ideas to help my mom. My older brother was murdered and buried in foreign country as a John Doe. We will eventually have him exhumed and have services – it’s just a lot of red tape. I am looking for a way to help my mom grieve by honoring him in some way. I like the quilt idea but I don’t know if my mom has any of his clothes. Do you suggest anything else? Stephanie Frogge, national crime victim services consultant, responds: How loving you are to want to help your […]
Loss of A Sibling
September 16, 2008
by P. Gill White, PhD For many years I have denied the unusual experience that happened to me when my sister Linda was in the hospital just prior to her death from cancer at the age of 13. I realize now that this was a significant part of my spiritual journey. She had been in the hospital for nearly 4 months. One night, I was asleep at home when I heard her softly calling my name….”Pat….Pa-a-a-t” –over and over. I woke up and looked around. The room was dark but a little light came in from the streetlights outside. I […]
Nancy Manahan and Becky Bohan: Death of a Sister-In Law
August 14, 2008
Nancy Manahan and Becky Bohan have co-authored a book and share the story of the death of their beloved sister-in law. https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/audio.opentohope.com/2010/10/Nancy-Manahan-Becky-Bohan-081408.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
When a Sibling Dies by Suicide
July 1, 2008
Writer Michelle Linn-Gust shares her journey of coming to terms with the suicide of her sister
A Twinless Twin
May 1, 2008
I am a doctoral student in the School of Nursing at Columbia and I?just listened to your show on twin loss.? My name is Kevin Johnson,? and I had a wonderful twin brother named Kelvin Johnson.? Kelvin died?February 25, 2007.? It is a loss that I do not know how to move on in?life with.? […]
