Loss
Stories of hope after loss and grief
Fate Doubles Down
By Norma Alford I was recently asked how I had been doing since my last encounter with Fate. After quickly calculating that it had been two years since my essay on the subject, I explained that much had happened. Life started to gradually return to its normal...
A Lifetime of Healing
by Shelley Anne Friend February 14, 1970, Valentine’s Day, was the worst day of my 14-year-old life. My father and I had driven from Beaumont, Texas, where we had recently moved, to be closer to a hospital for my mother, back to Liberty, Texas, where we lived most of...
Remembering Hurricane Harvey
by Eileen KilchristAugust 27, 2017 is a date that will always be remembered.My husband Joe and I struggled with Hurricane Harvey and 60 plus inches of rain that flooded 70% of the homes and businesses in Houston, Texas. Now, those memories are yet again flooding our...
Dragonfly Karma: Musings of a Bereaved Mom
by Lisa M. KurekJuly 14, 2019Five years ago (actually 1,862 days ago as I write this, but who’s counting, except me) my 23 year old daughter died from a freak accident. In my brief hours of clarity, before I descended into the black hole of grief, I realized that my...
It’s All for Her
By Marty Barnes In 2006 my husband and I welcomed our first and only child into the world while living in Santa Monica, California. About one month before the due date we were rushed to the hospital where they performed an emergency cesarean. Due to a traumatic...
Never Give Up!
By Carolyn Phillips Many of us have gone through trials in our life and all of us experience them similarly or in different ways. Each of us is uniquely individual with unique qualities. And yes, the wise saying of “time heals” really is true. Just be...
“You’re not what you think you are, but what you think, you are”
by Cathy Knutsen “You’re not what you think you are, but what you think, you are!” This quote by the late American psychologist, William James, is one of my favorites for handling the aftermath of grief. The loss of a loved one can feel like you have fallen into an...
Old Man Take a Look at My Life: I’m a Lot Like You Were
By Kimberly Spicer Standley This month marks ten years without my Dad. I think of him everyday. I hate that he is dead, and I hate how he died. I hate it that alcohol is so powerful that it can consume anyone. A person can be smart, kind, successful, and respectable;...
A Veteran Traveler’s Roadmap to Resilience
By Caryn M. Sullivan I'd just made my First Communion when the woman who gave me life betrayed my trust and eroded the foundation that should be afforded to every child. Under the auspices of taking a vacation, my beautiful, brilliant, willful mother loaded our...
Carried Away
By Kara Paige My father committed suicide. He took with him a healthy body but a diseased mind. A mind that was under the command of manic-depression. It was classic: Cycles of euphoria then depths of despair, often coupled with psychosis and suicidal ideation. While...
What You Think, You Are
By "C" “You’re not what you think you are, but what you think, you are!” This quote by the late American psychologist, William James, is one of my favorites for handling the aftermath of grief. The loss of a loved one can feel like you have fallen into an empty well,...
Wonder Woman
By Kay Lynn Means Darling Growing up in East Texas in the 70s may have had its own challenges. But, for Kay Lynn, it meant a chance for her to do something that many women had not done before. By 1975 at the age of 19, Kay Lynn found herself divorced and in need of a...
Give Yourself Permission to Step Through Fear and Experience Eternal Change
By Mindy Miralia In the waking hours of March 29, 2011, I received the call that is every parent’s worst nightmare. Before I could utter a sleepy ‘h-e-l-l-o’ my father announced in an odd emotionally neutral tone, “Mindy, Micah’s dead.” “No! He is not!” I shouted with...
My Unexpected Life with Aunt Lillie and Mom
By Deb Hernandez I never imagined that at age 63, I’d be living with my Mom, but I’m amazed at how happy it makes me. Then again, I never imagined we’d both be caring for a 99-year-old Mexican woman either. This Golden Girls kind of life has been an adjustment for me...
When Your World Is Turned Upside Down
By Verlie Edwards I was happily married with a great job I loved. Life was good. Then at 2 a.m. one night my entire world turned upside down. My husband of 28 years suffered an epileptic seizure that led to a traumatic brain injury and loss of short term memory. Four...
Fate Deals The Hands
By Norma Alford Having survived breast and uterine cancer, I am occasionally asked how I coped. Although it has been almost twenty years since my ordeal began, I still have no definitive answer. I do know that fate sometimes deals us a hand we don't want to play. And...