Death of a Parent

Lyss – Seasonal Reminders

Lyss seasonal reminders and her mother dying at New Years

Keeping Records

I pulled the photos out of their envelope one at a time, turning over each one to carefully record the date, place, and people in the photo. Sometimes, I included comments. “Apple picking in Hamilton with Pop Pop, Fall, 2023. You loved the wagon ride!”. I slipped each picture into an empty pocket in my son’s photo album.

Scott – The grieving process

Scott talks about how his song ‘The Good Man James” was about his father, their relationship and how it helped him process their relationship. Find the song at his website www.dotbmusic.ca

Holly – Singing in the last days

Holly talks about her partner’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis, the pandemic, their decisions, faith and how singing

Finding Joy During the Holidays After Loss When Everything Feels Awful: A message of hope.

My mother died in the middle of the night on January 1, four days before I turned sixteen. I don’t remember much about Christmas the couple weeks before she died, just that we spent a lot of that season in the ICU of the hospital where my mother had birthed my brother and I. For…

Karyn and Aidan – Support from others

Karyn and Aidan discuss how family, friends, and people they didn’t know in the community supported them.Talking, meals, dog walking are among the things that made a huge difference.

Logan – Songwriting and grief

Logan – Songwriting and grief

Logan explains how a song about his father helped

Learning from Grief

Grief is weird. Odd start, I know, but that was the sentence I used a lot whenever someone asked me how I was. It was never a constant feeling; it changed day to day. And still does. It’s the full gambit of emotions from sadness to anger to guilt and, though dark, even humour found its way in.

Katie – Getting stronger

Katie talks losing her mother when she was young and how the experience helped her when she lost her Dad

Hope – Waves of grief

Hope talks about the loss of her father and how grief comes in waves and how a therapist helped her understand that she had pushed her emotions down

Logan – My story

Logan talks about the death of his father and bone cancer and how writing music helped

Hope – My Story

Hope tells the story of her father’s death and how it affected her and her family