Death of A Loved One

Hope – Different lenses

Hope shares about the differences in experiences between losing her father and her Mom losing a spouse

Hope – Benefits of play in helping kids work through grief

Hope discusses how recreation and play can help kids understand deal with their loss.

Antoinetta – Myth that tragedy brings family together

Antoinetta discusses the challenges that her family faced after the death of her father

Bryan – Mom

Bryan gives his mother credit for how well she raised her two sons after her husband was murdered

Mary S – The value of writing

Mary talks about how much writing has helped inlcuding writing what her partner would have said

Matt – Music helped my grief

Matt discusses how creativity and music help his grief. Matt continues to grieve the death of his birth mother.

Kim – Self care

Kim talks about looking after yourself and how much it helps. In particular be kind to yourself

Karyn and Cathy – “Suicide”

Karyn and Cathy discuss how the stigma of suicide impacted the lack of acknowledgement of their grief and loss. Karyn and Cathy continues to grieve the death of their father by suicide.

What I know about grief

The following are some things I know to be true about grief for me, based on my lived experience. Some of them may resonate with you as well. Grief is unique to the people experiencing it in each moment, so please take whatever makes sense to you from this share and leave whatever doesn’t.

Grief & Ice Cream

When my wife of 18 years died in 2016, I became a single father missing the love of my life, and also had to learn how to raise two girls (13-17 at the time) on my own. I remember a conversation I had with my mother-in-law and oldest daughter that began as reminiscing over a person who became a lost love to all of us. We all talked about different aspects of my wife but shortly, it transformed into a “who meant more to her” fest.

Donna B – “Grief Dreams”

Donna discusses dreams and reality. Donna continues to grieve the death her son during service in Afghanistan.

Andrew – “Loss of a twin”

Andrew talks about the loss of his twin brother, time in the womb and that there are people out there that can help. Andrew continues to grieve the death of his twin brother by mishap.