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.

Recent Discovery
Mom, first off I want to tell you how much I love you and have appreciated all the effort you put into raising my brother and I. Now before I get into what I need to say, I also want you to know that I understand how hard it is raising two children, and that your actions and words were not meant to cause the reactions in me that it did. I recently realized that, even though our relationship has gotten better, I am still angry and hurt.
By Kiyona Fahiri4 years ago in Families
Fire
Approximately 20 years ago, I was personally touched by the urban blight of fire, when it destroyed my apartment and killed my girlfriend while I was away at work. I did not even know about the disaster until I came home from work and saw those ominous yellow plastic police tapes DO NOT CROSS warning signs around my apartment complex.
By John Whye4 years ago in Families
Dear Mommy
Dear Mommy, Did you know I’ll never know what it feels like to have a mommy? I know what it’s like to be a mommy … It’s the only feeling in the world that makes me feel like I have reached the very top of the mountain after a long treacherous trail. It’s the only feeling in the world that could illuminate the chemical hole you burned in me before I even got to experience the world. Yet somehow, it’s the only feeling that could spring forth a flower from deserted land.
By Carmen Black4 years ago in Families
Dear Mom
Dear Mom, I wanted to honor you with the Southern Bell send off you desired. A room full of flowers and family all loving you gently while you expired. We did not get that, the absence of it, the harsh way you were pulled from this world initiated my break down. Wishing for a different experience and not able to create it, I began to run again, through all the darkness and the mist, I lost myself, awake in a nightmare, unable to fall asleep and rest.
By Saffron Sage4 years ago in Families
We can’t always find what we lose
Dear Mama, I lost your ruby red earrings before you died. I know, I know. You always said I was too clumsy to wear your jewelry, but I couldn’t help myself. It was something about the hold of them, the way I always found every excuse to be closer to you. It was also just the fact that they were bright red and calling to me. I wanted to wear something that stood out, and they were right there.
By mak 4 years ago in Families
Casualties
Miranda fixed her eyes on the sky. The soldiers lowered the flag-draped casket on the jet’s platform elevator. It made a sudden jolt downward then smoothed out into a steady, humming descent. The Marines in short-collared uniforms moved as automatons--straight-backed, eyes at attention. She unraveled a handkerchief from her fist and reached under the wraparound sunglasses to pat the tenderness under her eyes. She noticed small things: the whiteness of the honor guard’s gloves, the thick smell of jet fuel, the curling edges of paperwork clamped to a clipboard, the distant scream of a widebody’s engines taxiing for takeoff. She looked at the sky again, searching for something to focus on. She hugged herself. Her leather jacket felt icy under her fingertips, bloodless.
By Trudy Swenson4 years ago in Families
My Addiction
Dear mom, Let me finally be honest with you. I am not the innocent daughter that you believed I was for all of my life. I have lied to you so many times, because of the shame that I felt. No I did not eat too much ice cream this week or anything like that. Before I tell you, I want to say - in my eyes, you are the greatest mother on planet earth. After all that you’ve been through in your own life, I couldn’t bare to confess to you who I was becoming and who I am now. I knew you wanted a much better life for me than you had, and although that has happened, there are moments where I do wish things were more ‘perfect’. You have seen the many dark sides of me and have forgiven me for everything before I had even done it. Unconditional love – that is what I have in my life because YOU exist. But I feel as though I don’t deserve it sometimes.
By Radmyla Domracheva4 years ago in Families
Dear Mama, I Wish You'd Known
Dear Mama, First of all, I'd like to wish you a Happy Mother's Day. As a small child, it was always all about you. You were the sun I orbited around. Like for many only children, this was bound to happen. This remained true for our entire lives.
By The Mouthy Renegade Writer4 years ago in Families
Mommy
Oh the things that I would say to you if I could. I was at an Epicure party when I got the call that said you were gone. Dad offered to come get me, but I declined and continued with the party for some time before politely excusing myself. Replaying it in my mind now, I do see it as a bit disturbing. Just calmly telling people that you just found out that your biological mother has died, and you really should be going now. But bad foster homes had gifted me with an emotional shield that few have been able to penetrate. And I’ll be the first to admit that my mask does come in handy. So I was able to tuck this bit of information away, as I do with so many other things, and save it for later. I held it together while speaking with other members of my family. And even to myself I appeared okay (as awful as that may sound). It’s not that I disliked or hated you. It was just that for me, the relationship was not there. Having you absent for most of my childhood definitely did some of that. My Mom and Dad were part of it. I too was part of it. I know you had your struggles, mentally and physically. I don’t judge you for that, as I share in some of those same struggles as well. I had thought that you were okay with Dad and Stacy raising us. And I initially thought that you passing was indeed quite sad, but I also felt that I should be extremely grateful that it was not someone whom I was closer to that was now gone. I genuinely believed that I was going to be just fine. But then I started going through your possessions alongside my siblings. Finding the kind of knickknacks that I myself would have collected, the little things you kept and cherished, the paperwork showing just how hard you tried to get us back. I had no idea. And I admit that I did eventually crumble. Not at my sisters house where we went through what was left of your life, but later on at home, in my bed. I cried, and hurt so much, realizing what I had lost, what I had not even known was there to lose. And realizing the pain you must have endured all of these years. In the Bible they speak of a weeping, wailing, and knashing of teeth. That is what I felt. Pain and anger at things which are lost and can not be returned. And guilt. Oh the guilt. I should have tried to reach out. I thought that there was time. I didn’t give any thought to the fact that people can be gone in the blink of an eye, and that you won’t see it coming, and that there is nothing you can do to change things after the fact. All you’re left with is the pain and the meager hope that you can do better next time.
By MistyRose 4 years ago in Families
Sorry Mum
“Hey, Mom. I never told you this before, but” the reason I have such a hard time saying I love you is because I have the hardest time loving myself. You and Dad always taught me that the most important person to love is oneself and of recent that has become difficult. This letter is selfishly more to myself than to you. However, by the end, I'm sure we may both see the benefits. It started a couple of months ago, I was lost on what to do with my first heartbreak having never gone through such a fiasco and only being 17.
By Nick4 years ago in Families
Stolen Socks. Top Story - May 2022.
Dear Mom, I stole your socks. It wasn't intentional, I just borrowed them, but I never got the chance to give them back to you. I still have them, despite my many moves since. I keep them in my sock drawer, and I feel guilty even after twenty-seven years.
By Mary Haynes4 years ago in Families
In The Blink Of An Eye
Dear Mom, It has been four years since I lost you, and I miss you every day that passes by. I remember how much I admired you when I was little. You were the matriarch of our family, and everyone looked up to you. No matter what challenges we faced, you always tackled them with such strength and perseverance. You were there whenever I needed you, and I knew I could always count on you. It's the small memories that mean the most to me, though. Like when we would cook together. Or when you would read me a bedtime story at night. But my favorite was when you would sing to me. I close my eyes, and I can still hear the sound of your voice. What I really miss, though, is your cooking. To this day, I dream about your sweet potato pie. Even though I must have seen you make it a thousand times, I can never make it as good as you.
By Shawn Williams4 years ago in Families