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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Room For Change: Changing Walls within Loss
May 3, 2011
Walls are dividers. Walls are providers. Walls are low. Walls are high. Walls are protectors. Walls are prisons. Walls with cracks fall down and can be rebuilt or replaced with something else. Moving through many changes after loss (the major one being the death of my spouse), I have moved my literal walls. In fact, I have moved three times within the last 6 years. I have constructed walls from blue prints; I have adorned and painted them. I have purchased a new home only to sell it 2 years later and rent after 30 years of owning my own […]
Writing Songs for Husband Helped Widow Heal
May 2, 2011
When my husband died, I felt a burning desire, a heartfelt need, to tell the world about the love that we shared. I wanted everyone to know how I felt, and how our love would last forever and ever. I decided that I was going to write a song about the love that I held deep in my heart. My love song would be a memorial to the man that I walked through life and death with. I’m not a musician nor am I a songwriter. But, I was a writer who needed to express herself. So, I researched the […]
Widow Struggles to Open Her Heart Again
April 28, 2011
The sixth anniversary of my husband’s death is right around the corner. I’m wondering tonight about open hearts. Open hearts are soft, ready to be shaped by love. They are ready for moments of joy, ready to let go of pain. I have an open heart. My only problem is that my heart is only open from time to time – it is no longer open regularly. There have been moments throughout the six years that have passed when I have felt ready. I feel ready to open my heart and ponder the possibility of someone else to love. Fleeting […]
Underwater at the Cancer Diagnosis
April 26, 2011
I could see his lips moving and his eyes penetrating but I felt like I was swimming underwater. The muffled sounds seemed far away and the x-ray the doctor was pointing to had black spots on the tailbone, elbow, neck and rib. I drew myself above water and spoke, “Couldn’t they be arthritis?” and immediately delved backwards to the soundproof zone of denial. I needed gulps of fresh air, but my husband and the doctor seemed to be pantomiming a conversation with one another and the pointer in the physician’s hand kept tracking from one spot to another. Soon to […]
Amy Florian: Spouse Loss
April 25, 2011
Amy Florian talks about her story and the loss of her spouse.
Easter Adoption Gives Pain, Then Peace
April 23, 2011
Growing up Catholic, Easter meant dressing up for church and coloring Easter eggs and eating chocolate. Many years later, my wife Lisa and I did the same thing with our young children. Seven years into our marriage, and two years after Lisa’s devastating diagnosis of cancer, Lisa, our two children and I were living with our eyes on the future. Lisa and I had talked about having more children but at this point, we could only adopt if an agency decided to take us on as clients. We did find an agency that took us on because there are no […]
Room for Change
April 19, 2011
Susan Reynolds’ book, Room for Change, is available by clicking here.
Grief Support Group Didn’t Help – Now What?
April 16, 2011
Question from a reader: I feel very comfortable on the online forum I’ve joined and have already received great support from the people there. They encourage and inspire me. I’m learning a lot from those who’ve inhabited this world of grief longer than I have. That’s why it would be good to hear your thoughts on the following issue. The forum helps me, but I feel I need additional counseling. I met individually with a grief counselor from the hospice where my husband died and she encouraged me to come to one of their local support group meetings. I went, […]
Glenda M. Carter; A Vietnam War Widow’s Journey
April 14, 2011
Glenda Carter was a teenager when her 18-year-old husband, Bruce, was killed in Vietnam. Glenda reminds us that trauma cannot be measured by the ticking of a clock or the turning of the pages of a calendar. She is the author of Sacred Shadow, Sacred Ground: A Vietnam War Widow’s Journey Through Unresolved Grief. https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/www.opentohope.com/files/2011/03/Glenda-Carter_04.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
