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
Part 1: Growing Up Growing up with a sick parent really takes away from what most people would call a “normal” childhood. It didn’t make my childhood bad, though. I used to play outside with my neighbor's kids and we’d ride bikes. All activities that “normal” kids did. However, back in the house was when things stopped being so “normal”. When I was three, my mom was diagnosed with colon cancer, this eventually ended up spreading into breast cancer, then into lung cancer. Her illnesses eventually became terminal, and my parents both knew it was only a matter of time. Sometimes she’d have to lay on the kitchen table so my dad could pump her lungs before we went out of the house. Watching that process was always really unnerving, especially for a four or five year old child. Both my mom and dad tried really hard to make sure we had good memories with my mom before she passed. We went to Disney, we would go out for ice cream on fridays, and she’d help me with my homework. I do have a lot of good memories with my mom, and that’s something I’m so grateful for. However, the sicker she got, the less she was able to do with us; it got to the point where she wasn’t able to put us to bed anymore. We’d have to go into her room and kiss her goodnight, she’d give my sister and I each a stuffed animal she had been cuddling with all day so it would be “filled with love” by the time bedtime came around. This was the normal for my childhood, and it’s something that I’ll remember for a while.
By Rachael7 years ago in Families
Lose
There are many kinds of losses, from losing a shoe or a phone but in worst cases, a loss is losing someone, maybe a friend through an argument or a death in your family.
By Rosa Online7 years ago in Families
How to Deal with the Anniversary of a Loved One's Death
March 11 marks the first anniversary of my son’s (Donivin) passing. My family misses him. As a mother, I think of him daily wherever I go. A trigger of memories, i.e., a glimpse of moments of the good, the sad, and the challenging ones—feeling the emotion of embracing the memories, grief, and the continuing of healing forward.
By Grace KOSTAMO7 years ago in Families
Simply My Life 2
I am stalling. I have known since I finished the first chapter what comes next in this story. I cannot tell any more of my life without this chapter. So much of who I am, who I became, was influenced by the events in this part of my life. And I do not want to write it. It will open up a part of my heart that, even 30 years later, I can't handle emotionally. It involves the single most devastating loss I have ever experienced. But as I said, I can't tell any more of my story without it. I have tried to come up with a way to tell other things first, and I probably could fill up some pages with fluffy good memories. I could entertain you with my childhood. But those aren't the things that have shaped my story.
By Jenn Pautsch7 years ago in Families
Hello, Welcome to Grief
Hello all! I want to start writing a chain of articles dealing with how we handle grief and bereavement in this crazy world today; it's an inevitable fact that as humans we will all die eventually. I'm sorry to be blunt, but it's just something that we will all have to deal with. When I was 20 years old, I was thrown into this select group of kids who have lost a parent before they're old enough to rent a car. No one tells you what it's going to be like after one or more of your parents leaves the planet, but if I can drive one thing home, it's that through death there is life. Death is a natural game changer in our lives, and there is truth in that through death there is rebirth, so I would like introduce myself by sharing my experience with death.
By Megan Beers7 years ago in Families
Hide-And-Seek
Paige was our youngest daughter. Youngest of three, in fact. Julie and Michelle were in their early 20s and in college, starting at life. Kenan would be so proud. He used to say, “Thank the Lord for my beautiful black girls.” We buried him on Julie’s 21st birthday. The honor guard sounded their rifles, each shot shaking my insides. Then, they took the neatly-folded flag in white gloves and walked uniformly to me, and handed me the fabric for which Kenan had fought and died. And it was everything I could do, not to crumble. I had to be strong for my daughters.
By David McKelly7 years ago in Families
Absolutely Perfectly Correct
Absolutely Perfectly Correct Brian Gibbs, July 22, 1950-May 3, 2013 In June of 2012, my brother Brian was in so much pain that he contemplated taking his own life.
By Sandra Gibbs 7 years ago in Families
Respect
Bear Heart Williams is a respected Road Man, holy man, and teacher among the Creek nation. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I met Bear Heart years ago and learned to call him “Uncle.” It is with great respect for him that I share his personal story of respect.
By Scout Cloud7 years ago in Families
Purgatory
I've never been the sharing type. Not openly to people anyway, not unless they blatantly ask. It's not my style to be so bold. (See previous post on bottling up emotions :'D ) I like to write. Put pen to paper and get my thoughts out on the table for me to finally make sense of. In the absence of real privacy, I like to tap away at my laptop's keys and vent. I can save and change things then, and come back to them when I can think of a way to say what I mean. I don't like to delete and rewrite stuff I've already saved though, then I feel like I'm betraying the feelings I had in those moments. They were raw and real, and needed saying.
By Louisa Jane7 years ago in Families
Dear Dad
Dear Dad, I’ll never forget the look in my mother’s eyes as you beat me up with words when you drunkingly harassed me at night. I’ll never forget the look in her eyes if I didn’t do as I was told, if I didn’t address you as sir, if I didn’t have the right attitude, as you beat me with your hands. The same hands that helped me onto your shoulders when I was too tired to walk. The same hands that held me at night when I was too scared from a nightmare or scary movie I’d watched earlier that day to fall asleep. The same hands that clapped for me while I competed in a cheerleading competition. The same hands that carried me inside when I wrecked my bike and scraped my knees to the bone. The same hands that touched my sisters and brothers bodies the same way you did mine.
By Jaydie Osteen7 years ago in Families
Letter to an Angel
We experience many forms of loss in our lives. Loss of relationships, loss of time, and loss of loved ones. Loss is not easy. But it is a necessary part of our lives.
By Laura Tran7 years ago in Families
I Didn't Believe in God
When I was younger, I remember, I didn’t believe in God. I remember repeating what my father had once told me in a rare moment of genuine sharing. My cousin died and my Dad sat alone on the swing in our backyard. I had never seen him not engaged in some activity, whether it was chopping wood, or raking leaves, or digging a ditch. He was always working. On this day he was on the swing, not swinging just sitting. I was young, but not too young. My mother had just approached me as I walked in the house, and told me my cousin had been in a fatal accident. Unable to understand, I asked if he was ok, and she said, no, he died. I walked through the garage into the green shady vast green expanse of the back yard and saw my father. I walked up to him, he was crying.
By MJ Dunn7 years ago in Families