Posts Tagged: grief

The Uncertain Path of Newtown’s Mourning Parents

June 10th, 2013
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It is rare for a national newspaper to begin a story on its Sunday front page that continues to run for five pages of with lots of pictures and is dedicated to the subject of grief.
But that is just what The Washington Post did yesterday and Eli Saslow, who wrote and reported the devastating story, and Linda Davidson, who photographed the compelling pictures for the story, deserve a standing ovation for bringing much needed attention to what life is now like for the Barden family of Newtown, Connecticut, a family in the throes of raw, searingly painful grief as … Read More

Your Personal Path

May 30th, 2013
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Unlike many things in life, there is no right or wrong way to grieve. There’s really just your way. Whether it’s through talking, crying, or slowly processing your feelings privately, grief must be acknowledged.  If you try to suppress your grief feelings, they will only come back later on and sometimes they come back in unhealthy ways. Even though others will probably try to suggest that you should do certain things at certain points in your grief process, it really and truly is up to you and what you feel comfortable doing.  There is no schedule. Some people bury their… Read More

A Friend’s Good Bye Letter

May 28th, 2013
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Last week a childhood friend of my father’s died.  They had known each other since they were in grade school and met each other while playing recess games on the black top when they were about seven or eight years old.  They both went on to attend the same high school, playing basketball, and later both went into the insurance business working for different companies.   Over the years, they stayed in touch with each other as best they could.  They both worked very hard while trying to raise large Irish Catholic families.  My father and mother had six children… Read More

Heaven

May 23rd, 2013
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There’s a place where we all want to end up. We know it by name but where is it?  Where is Heaven? I was thinking about Heaven yesterday while attending the wake of a man who was one of my father’s best friends. This man was a good man, worked hard, had a wonderful wife and children and tried to do his best for others.  I’m sure he is in Heaven, wherever that is. I’m also sure that other people that I knew and loved are in Heaven: my husband, all of my grandparents, my aunt and uncles and some… Read More

Socially Yours

May 22nd, 2013
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Stories are constantly written about why we should strive to unplug from our computers, ipads, Smartphones and other electronic devices but I read a work colleague’s Facebook post yesterday and was reminded of how amazing social media truly is. I work with a young guy named Aaron Knights and he was at the incredibly tender age of seven when his beloved father died from cancer at the age of 38.  Think about that for a minute.  Think about what you were like when you were seven.  The idea of losing a parent at that stage of your life is profound… Read More

Angelina’s Health Decision

May 15th, 2013
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Angelina Jolie made a powerful decision.  It’s not a decision that every woman has the opportunity to make, but I stand and applaud her courage and wish her a future of wellness. Faced with medical information from her doctors that she had an 87 percent risk of developing breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of developing ovarian cancer because she carried the BRCA1 gene, she decided to take control of her health and be proactive.  She decided at the young age of 37 to have a double mastectomy which means she had both of her currently healthy breasts surgically… Read More

Needing Sleep

May 14th, 2013
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Lots of great things happen to you while you are asleep. Your skin repairs itself, your mind relaxes and resets itself and your body strengthens its immune system and reduces levels of stress.But you have to do it to reap the benefits. These days people like to brag about how little sleep they need.  I remember reading somewhere that Martha Stewart only sleeps four hours a night.  I thought to myself, “You’ve got to be kidding!  I could never last very long if I only got four hours of sleep a night!” Even Charlie Brown & Lucy Need To Sleep… Read More

Grief In the Office

May 13th, 2013
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Even though your world probably stopped when you lost a loved one, the world around you has continued  with its usual routine. I know it’s kind of a shocker to find this out but it’s true. You are racked with pain but unfortunately, that doesn’t stop the bills and other responsibilities that need your attention from smacking you in the face.  What kind of responsibilities you may ask?  Well, for some it might include feeding, clothing and housing children, continuing to work full-time and managing to keep your wits about you as you try your best every day to stick… Read More

I, Poet

May 7th, 2013
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When I was in high school, I used to write a lot of poetry.  I liked the deliberate way of choosing and using words and trying to find the right rhythm of each line.  I had a special notebook that I used to write down thoughts and words that I wanted to remember for images in future poems. I even entered a poetry contest in high school and surprisingly one of my poems won and was published in a national anthology of high school poetry.  That was a confidence booster! Then it was time to go to college.  My interests… Read More