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.
Ungrief
Over the past year I can say I have been on an emotional roller coaster of emotions. My parents, my mother and my uncle (who was also my godfather), had been ill for a long time. Both my sister and I lived quite a distance away from them and due to family issues of our own and were only able to help our much younger nephew who lived with them with managing their care through phone calls and a constant open three-way text. Other than the information he relayed to us, we had no idea what was going on. I sent county workers out to their house but I was told that they couldn't help. My sister and I found out way too late we were being fed a huge web of lies.
By Geri Spears7 years ago in Families
The Last Moments My Grandmother Lived
Last year my grandmother passed away. It was a surprise to us when the doctor told us she had stomach cancer. At her age it was impossible for chemo or any sort of treatment to work on her and living in the US I doubt they would spend any more time and money trying to cure something so life threatening like stomach cancer. I believe the goal for the doctors was to make her feel comfortable and pain free. She would keep asking every day she would spend in the hospital if she was able to go back home. Sometimes I wondered if she already knew that she wouldn’t make it or if she just accepted that her time was coming. She seemed calm most days, I didn’t see her cry about it. I recall when I went to the hospital to visit her and the doctor came in and explained that there was nothing they could do anymore and the best thing was to take her home or place her in a hospice. To this day I still don’t know if we made the right decision of taking her back to her home.
By Miranda Harquin7 years ago in Families
My Story
Hello, my name is Lilithea Marie-Kathrine(Kat-reen) Adasia. I am going on 35 and have the most wonderful partner in my life that has been at my side for 10+ years and counting. I have been in remission from cancer for a little over a year. I am educated. Have an alright family, I mean I can't lie. There are a few apples on this tree we have tried to nudge out of the orchard, but what family doesn't have at least one? Overall, it seems like a great life, but deep in the center is a huge dark void. A black hole, slowly sucking everything into it and I can't find anything to fill it, to plug it, to satisfy its voracious hunger of everything else in my life. I know what caused it, I know what is supposed to be there, but life, as fickle as it is, has chosen to leave my life void of what it needs.
By Lilithea Adasia7 years ago in Families
Hospital Goodbyes
She looked at the clock while having a sip of the hot coffee she bought from the machine in the office. It was disgusting, but it would at least give her enough strength to get through the hours that she had left. Just two more and then Friday would be over. She could only think of what she was going to have for dinner, followed by getting into bed to watch a random show on Netflix—something that would make her forget about the day.
By Yaiza López7 years ago in Families
The Way It Should Be
October 31st, 2013. Where is he? I glance down the memory-drenched hall every few seconds in expectation. I smile to myself. For one so obsessed with managing, I ponder, he is not punctual. I stop and take a step back from rearranging the table, festively decorated with candy corn and cinnamon-scented candles tied with jute. I take a deep breath. I feel like I never get to see you anymore, and it takes events like this for your work to let you go early to help your family. I push my hair out of my face and let out a small giggle. You love it when I curl my hair. I can't wait for you to see it.
By Isabella Tittle7 years ago in Families
A Daughter's First Love
I lost my father on December 10th, 2018, 14 days before my birthday, and two months and one day after his. I began telling the story the day he was diagnosed with cancer as a means to process the news, and saved it to go back to visit. Before I could work on it the next day, he lost his fight, and it would be ten months before I would be strong enough to complete it (Find Part 1 here). This will tell the story of his last days.
By Angela Brigance-Vance7 years ago in Families
The Alley
Cigarette smoke billowed and followed AC drafts from the ceiling above, searing the eyes of children and seniors alike. Whirling electronic sounds escaped the murmuring machines, as teenagers to the next lane appeared to be having the time of their lives—perhaps even the highlight of their lives. We devoured the pitchers of beer, to stomach the onslaught of laughter and those crackling, cacophonous sounds. Each strike, spare, or even gutter ball were announced to the lounge, as if the bowling alley had transformed into an arcade on steroids. Laughter penetrated any reflection of what had transpired two nights ago. Velda, Joshua, and his girlfriend could not help but notice my existential unease—my detachment. In that moment, I realized this could not happen to my family, rather, time and space were illusions—manmade constructs to ease the understanding of physics, to laymen and scholars alike. I felt somewhere—somehow—Ella was with me. I could still smell her locks of hair. I heard her call my name from the back of the alley. She was there. She had never truly left—or so I would not accept.
By Joseph Webb7 years ago in Families
Retail Therapy in a Necklace (or Two)
A couple months after my hysterectomy, a mom at the park casually asked me how many kids I want to have. It was too soon, I had no quippy answer prepared to shrug off the question, and it caught me off guard. I ended up telling her everything that happened to me, and she reciprocated with stories of her own postpartum experiences. I am grateful for sisterhood, motherhood, personhood. Grateful to wear the marks of what it took to bring my children into this world. Grateful to be surrounded by supportive people who make space for me to express my hurt and confusion out loud.
By Jessica Grace Raso7 years ago in Families
A Girl's First Love...
Yesterday was a day I will never forget. My dad had been in and out of the hospital over the last few weeks for having his blood sugar going from dangerously high to plummeting dangerously low as we introduced insulin. It was so hard to get regulated it seemed, and adding to the stress was the fear of every dose of insulin given, he could end up in hypoglycemic shock. I was wearing out. We finally got it regulated, and I felt like I could breathe again.
By Angela Brigance-Vance7 years ago in Families
