grief

Losing a family member is one of the most traumatic life events; Families must support one another to endure the five stages of grief and get through it together.

Loss is loss.
It was a relatively warm and sunny day, the kind of weather you hope for when planning a trip to the beach. Well on this particular day, the sun and clouds no longer mattered because the news I just received shattered me. The weather no longer mattered, in that moment the job I had no longer mattered, the people around me, that I had a hole in my shoe, that I was so overly exhausted from working so hard that I could barely see straight. As I stood there in shock and disbelief, a massive wave of all kinds of emotions washed over me, naturally I wanted to drop to my knees onto the ground and pound it with my fists in massive agony. But, the professional side of me knew I couldn't allow for myself to do that, cause who knows, I probably would've gotten fired. Absolutely nothing matters in the world when you learn of a loved one that has just passed.
By Magdalena🌹4 years ago in Families
Through the Candyman’s Yellow Smile. Runner-Up in Dads Are No Joke Challenge. Top Story - June 2022.
“Just push it a little further,” my grandfather tells me, “Until the shift reaches the letter D.” “Ok,” I tell him, my little awkward fingers wrapped around the contours of the car’s automatic stick shift, its cracked and dried leather scratching and clawing the smooth grooves in my fingers.
By Eric True4 years ago in Families
The Meal I’ll Never Have Again
There's one meal I'll never repeat, but will always remember. It was a couple of days before Midsummer in 2012, and I was visiting my dad in Finland with my ex-boyfriend. We'd been living in Argentina for two and a half years then.
By Taru Anniina Liikanen4 years ago in Families
My Father's Funeral
My parents visited Texas to attend my older sister’s nursing program graduation. During that visit, my newly-minted nurse of a sister noticed how much my father’s health was failing, especially pertaining to his diabetes and heart disease. He’d never been healthy, really. He was obese and diabetic. He struggled with diet after diet. Finally, when I was in high school, he underwent bariatric surgery. I’m not entirely convinced that it didn’t, in the end, kill him.
By Elizabeth Hunter4 years ago in Families
The Last Time I Saw My Mother
“You don’t want to eat that do you?” my mother asked as she snatched the basket of bread away from me and moved it to her side of the table. Exasperated, I rolled my eyes as I usually did and answered, “Oh no, of course not, mother.”
By Daphne Faye4 years ago in Families
Happy Father's Day from the Other Side
This Father's Day, our son will have no dad to praise. Not here on Earth anyways. Sadly, our son lost his father to a fentanyl overdose last August. I found him lifeless on my bedroom floor the morning after he died and my mind immediately went to our son Isaac, and how devastated he was going to be when he heard this dreadful news. I was having a mental breakdown myself, but how was our 10 year old son going to handle this? Of course my heart instantly broke for our son. I wasn't even able to call 911, thank God my superintendent was there to do this for me.
By Miranda Ivory Marie4 years ago in Families
The biggest lesson my father taught me came after he died
I used to be a staunch atheist. I believed that there is no God, there's no rhyme or reason for us being here, and when you're dead, you're dead and there's nothing else to it.
By Ellie Scott4 years ago in Families
The Papa You Could've Been
Oh, how I loved our times together at the park. Oh, how I loved our little ice-cream dates. Oh, how I loved our dress-up parties. Oh, how I loved the way you’d let me make your face colorful with my glitter makeup set. Oh, how I loved the way you’d push me on the swings while encouraging me to make airplane sounds each time I swung up. Oh, how I loved your piggyback rides in the living room while you *oinked* making mummy cry her eyes out from laughing so hard. Oh, how I loved your special star-shaped Sunday morning pancakes with their chocolate smiley face that you drew on with chocolate syrup and the forehead kiss that came along with it. Oh, how I loved the way you’d let mummy and me bury you at the beach in the sand, turning you into a sand mermaid. Oh, how I loved the way you’d pick me up out of the backseat after falling asleep from a long car ride home… Most of the time I was faking it just so you could carry me inside into my room. But Most importantly out of all the things I mentioned, I love how even though none of those things happened I can finally be at peace with not having the father figure I craved at the age of 22.
By Susane Regis4 years ago in Families
Bert
I was six years old when I met Bert. I was eleven when my mom and him were married. I was thirty when he died. Four years have passed, yet still, when I think about him too hard, a deep-seated ache that I assumed would lessen over time returns. He was my dad. He was my nail painter, grilled cheese and soup when I was sick maker, and my take your daughter to work day date. I loved him. I still do.
By Rachael MacDonald4 years ago in Families
The Trouble With...(Pt. 12)
I can’t tell you what Snoop Dogg means by the term ‘church.’ I can only tell you what I have surmised it to be. That meaning to me was taken from the slang term ‘word.’ A person says it to emphasize a remark made by a friend, or agree with what was said. I always thought the natural progression of the terms came to be slang for ‘amen.’ This is the ‘word’ of God, so be it. I heard Snoop Dogg use ‘church,’ and assumed that was what he meant. I don’t know if he was the first to use it, but he was the first person I ever heard use it.
By Shannon K. Abel4 years ago in Families
I can't whistle
I used to have such an abundant capacity to feel. I can remember what it's like of course. Brief moments of color in a monochromatic hellscape. Chopin's Ballade in G minor, played on a stand up at the end of a pier in Monterey. The first crisp chill of autumn as it sweeps summer along in it's path. The smoky kiss of a lover as she reveals physically what she's afraid to emotionally.
By John Eva4 years ago in Families
Dad: I Never Thought It Would Be Like This
Dear Dad, I sure didn't know what to expect: did you? Not sure what I expected—maybe I thought that you were going to go quickly and peacefully, like Mom did—but you’re right, this has been long and excruciating. Don’t get me wrong: yes, it’s gone on too long and it has been horrible for all of us, but please don’t ever think that you were a nuisance or a burden. Oh my gosh, no, you were never a burden, to any of us. I know that to be true.
By Catherine Kenwell4 years ago in Families