Open to Hope Articles
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Of Fathers and Faith
June 19, 2009
Father’s Day is just ahead, and for more than 150 million Americans whose fathers have died, it will be a day of missing Dad. Father’s Day can be a traumatic day for those of us whose fathers who have died and the anticipation of the day is often as difficult – or even more difficult – than the holiday itself. Whether it’s been recent or many years since Dad passed away, we have to somehow get through the day as well as remember and honor Dad’s life. When John Pete ask me to write a blog on how my faith […]
Eric Tomei: Father’s Day Without Father
June 18, 2009
Eric Tomei was inspired to write a book about his dad, I Miss My Dad after the sudden death of his father. https://media.blubrry.com/open_to_hope_1/audio.opentohope.com/2009/06/Eric_Tomei_061809.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
My Father, My Hero
June 16, 2009
When I was a little girl, I fell from our tree swing. I was gently picked up and carried into the house where Band-Aids were carefully placed on my scuffed-up knees. My tears were dried with methodic tender dabs. Through my sobs, I could hear the calming and reassuring words of my father, who we called Papa, “It’s alright, Pee Wee. You’ll be just fine. No more tears, now,” he said. This was one instance of the many rescues my father took part in throughout my girlhood years. It doesn’t seem that long ago. I was his front-seat passenger, tagging […]
Man’s Girlfriend Experiencing Grief 14 Years After Mother’s Death
June 15, 2009
Adam writes in: My girlfriend is grieving her mother after 14 years. She lost her mother when she was 19 and now at the age of 33 is going through an intense period of grief and depression. She has said that it’s always been hard for her, but about two weeks ago her feeling became so intense that she feels she’s not able to give energy to anything else. She works long hours at her job and is able to maintain a success in her work, but she feels that she cannot do anything else. She fears that she will […]
Take me out to the ball game…
June 12, 2009
The famous song that signals that summer is here. One of my favorite things to do in the summer is to go to a baseball game. I love going on a summer day or night and just being outside, smelling the fresh cut grass, seeing fans with their baseball gloves, and smelling that wonderful aroma of hot dogs and onions cooking. It is an experience that I enjoy more and more as the years go on. My hometown team is the Detroit Tigers, but I have never really been a fan. I don’t hate the Tigers, I […]
For the kids…
June 8, 2009
Yesterday I attended a charity function for a wonderful charity here in the Metro Detroit area benefitting children who have lost a parent. Yatooma’s Foundation for the kids provides financial assistance, groceries, counseling, coaching to family members, and just about anything else to children in need after a parent has died. Their annual Champions for the Kids event was held at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham and it was the first time I had ever been to an event like this. It was first class all the way and through live and silent auction items over $171,000 was raised for […]
Coping as You Anticipate a Loss
June 2, 2009
By Marty Tousley, RN, MS, FT, DCC Grief does not wait for death to happen; it occurs both in anticipation of and following a loss. Extended illness, disability, severe accidental injury, a terminal diagnosis or the aging and decline of an elderly family member can produce what is known as anticipatory grief and mourning. We find ourselves reacting and continually adapting not only to an expected loss, but to all the losses – past, present, and future – that are encountered in that experience. Anticipatory mourning begins as soon as we become aware that death may happen. It begins when […]
The Never-Ending Project
June 1, 2009
My Dad’s never ending project no matter what house we were living in was to clean the garage. It did not matter how many times he cleaned it, the garage still looked like it needed to be clean. Tools would be moved around, toys would be put away, lawn bags would be piled up but it still looked like that garage needed to be cleaned. My Dad saved everything or at least we thought he did. He had hundreds of baby food jars filled with nails. Some new, some old, most in pretty good condition. There was a wheelbarrow from […]
Father’s Day Approaches as a Father Dies
May 28, 2009
By Gloria Lintermans — My father is dying of cancer. He will be gone before Father’s Day, having spent 93 years in a world of snow-balling change. A huge person in my life, I don’t know how to say good-bye. Experience doesn’t help. My mother died two years ago, my husband almost seven. Loss, I guess, is something we never get “right”. Of one thing I am sure, while we think we can prepare for loss, truly this preparation can be only intellectual; we fool ourselves if we think we can prepare emotionally. There is much I have learned and […]
