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.
Gone Too Soon
It’s been almost three years since you decided to leave us for greener pastures. I still don't understand why you felt that was the only way to fix things. I thought that you were happy and finally able to cope with your pain and longings to be somewhere else but it would appear that I was wrong.
Sherri RuotiPublished 7 years ago in FamiliesWriting Empathy, Influenced by Loss
Warning: May be hard to read if you've lost a loved one. It was certainly hard to write. Before I start, I want to mention a song: "Lithium," by Evanescence. It's not really fitting to what I want to talk about, but... it's a song that means a lot to me, for a lot of reasons. As I may write about someday, my mother and some other members of my family struggle with addiction, which is one reason why the song holds a lot of weight with me. It also makes me think of depression, which is another subject I believe I have a good understanding of. And, in truth, my favorite character ever written suffered from manic depression. But this song is also one that I listen to when I'm in my darkest spots. I listen to it when I'm feeling rejected... I listen to it when I feel low. And I listened to it, for a very long time, when my grandfather died.
Summer RainPublished 7 years ago in FamiliesLiving a Life of Abuse
I grew up in a home that was far from perfect. My brother and I were both adopted after my mom found out she couldn't have any more children.
Kristina HedleyPublished 7 years ago in FamiliesAddiction
Sometimes I wonder if it was suicide, a way out of misery. A life left alone, old and frail, a life where if no friends were available for fun then life wasn't worth anything. He seemed so confused about what was the right thing that the bad things were hidden in the obvious. We all knew he had a problem but we couldn't talk about it. It hurt too much.
Juliaa &&kiddsPublished 7 years ago in FamiliesThe Grief That Keeps on Giving
For those of you that haven't lost a parent, I envy you. I sincerely do. I don't care if you don't like them or if you don't get along with them or whatever, I am so very jealous of you. My dad died on February 18, 2017 and I remember that day like it was yesterday. I remember crying hysterically and feeling like I wasn't able to breathe. I remember feeling not sad, but just... utterly devastated about what just happened. But most of all, I remember feeling numb. Completely numb. This month marks 8 months since he left us and I still feel like it just happened yesterday.
Don't Miss Him Til He's Gone
It is real easy to take someone for granted while they are still around. Even though we may take our loved ones for granted, most of the time it isn't intentional. There are plenty of everyday things that seem minor on a regular day, but looking back they could mean the world to someone reflecting back. It's not that you didn't care, it was just the norm. The sad reality is sometimes it takes someone being gone for you to notice and appreciate some of the things they have done for you.
Kiara BowensPublished 7 years ago in FamiliesThe Sound of Shattering Glass
My problems all started on the day that I found him dead. My then-girlfriend and I came home from vacation. We were up with friends in northern Minnesota, drinking and smoking a weekend away. We arrived to find my father and three of his friends hanging out, having just finished their fantasy draft. We all exchanged pleasantries. Lady and I went to bring our things downstairs into my basement. I recall the last exchange my dad and I would ever have, him grousing about a computer mouse he felt I had misplaced. I snapped back about how I had been gone that whole weekend and wouldn't know where the fuck it is. Me being tired from a long weekend and my pop being drunk and baked himself, I gave the terse nature of the conversation no further thought, at least at the time.
Mathew BeconovichPublished 7 years ago in FamiliesCope
Losing somebody you love changes you. It changes the person you are at that time, and the person you’ll be in the future. It’s something that you must cope with, but that’s something a lot of people can’t do. But I did. And because of that, there is nothing in my life that I am any prouder of.
Cassandra SladePublished 7 years ago in FamiliesSpecial Days
I am two days away from marrying the man of my dreams and I could not be more excited. I am also having a difficult time because two years ago my dad passed away because of cancer.
Melissa BalthropPublished 7 years ago in FamiliesLife After Being a Caregiver
Have you ever stopped to wonder what happens to a caregiver when their charge departs this world? For professionals, it's easy; they just move on to the next. After all. there's no shortage of sick, elderly, or dying people in the world. It's a job and nothing more. They don't generally become emotionally attached enough that it disturbs their life. But not every caregiver is a professional—most aren’t. Most are family, daughters, sons, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself what happens to them when there's no one left to take care of?
Shannon HummellPublished 7 years ago in FamiliesWhat to Say
When a young person loses a parent, it may be difficult to know what to say. From talking to Alison McWilliams, who lost her mother at age 19, we gathered some information to help guide you in the right direction of finding something to say.
Emily McWilliamsPublished 7 years ago in FamiliesWhat My Mother Would Have Wanted?!
If you've ever seen the movie Raising Helen then you know there's a scene where when they go to buy a turtle and John Corbett's character is giving Kate Hudson's character a lecture on what her sister expected when she left her the kids. Kate's chatacter tells him bluntly not to talk about her sister, a sister he didn't even know. I understand this so much now it hurts. Every stranger I meet has decided they know what my mom would have wanted more than I do. I spent my entire life with her, we talked about everything. They think in my grief I no longer have any rational thought, but my grief has actually made me think more rationally than before. I've always seen the world differently, more clearely in a sense. I see more of the possibilities of what could happen, I see more of reality. I never saw the world through rose-colored glasses, never pretended it was better than it was. Perhaps that's why I've always hated it so much. Disliked people so much. I've seen so much of the bad. My mother and I asked each often where are these good people who are supposedly out there? We never found an answer, no matter how hard we tried. Never found the good people. We just had each other.
Shannon HummellPublished 7 years ago in Families