Death of A Loved One

Adrianna – Storytelling… intuitive and instrumental

Adrianna tells how storytelling helped her process her grief

Krista – “Exercise to get it out”

Krista tells how she releases stress through kickboxing. Krista continues to grieve the death of her son from opioid overdose.

Matt – My Story

Matt tells how he found his birth mother and then lost her.

Matt – Wisdom to pass on

Matt offers advice to his younger self about grief. Matt continues to grieve the death of his birth mother.

Amber – Keeping Dad’s memory alive

Amber tells how she set up a Dad adventure day to keep the memory of her father alive for her kids and husband

Hope – Not wanting to burden my Mom and siblings

Hope shares how much her Mom had to do after her father died and how they worked out their relationship

Jessica M – Legacy

Jessica explains legacy and gives examples including her own.

Donna B – “Brotherhood of Military”

Donna talks about support from the extended family of the military. Donna continues to grieve the death her son during service in Afghanistan.

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.

Weathering the Intense Emotions of Grief

Grief often comes with powerful, unpredictable emotional shifts that can be painful to experience. While it’s important to find ways to sit with these feelings, to acknowledge the pain of grief and accept loss, it’s also necessary to find ways to ease and manage the pain. There are several simple activities that you can explore to help.

Kate – Getting support

Kate talks about how difficult it is to ask for support

Jane – What processing grief during the pandemic may look like

Jane talks about how the pandemic has postponed a lot of “firsts” without her grandparents that have impacted her experience of moving through grief.