The bereaved mother is a warrior. Each day she faces the world whilst carrying the greatest of pain. Each day she lives while her child does not. Each day she fights to stay standing as grief tries to tear her down. The bereaved mother is a superhero. She survives, she thrives, thanks to superpowers gifted…
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Names In The Sand
Continue...Have you ever written a name in the sand? This morning, on a beach far from home, I stood in the early morning light. The sun was beginning to warm the sand, gentle waves lapping at the shore. The beach was almost empty, the sea clear and calm. It was so peaceful. I took a deep…
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Missing From The Picture
Continue...I love this picture. I hate this picture. It doesn’t happen as often as it once did, that feeling that someone is missing. So now when it does, it blindsides me. There are five. There should be six. Related: To The Kindergarten Teacher Who Is Missing One, There should be another boy, just bigger than the…
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Being Mindful In Grief
Continue...In the beginning, after my daughter died, my mind was a mess of thoughts. They were very much connected to feelings of anger, jealousy, vindictiveness, and the like. Many of these emotions were unfamiliar to me in any sort of continuous pattern, and I was thrown off guard by them. They further served to isolate…
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Five Things I’ve Learned In Five Years Of Grief
Continue...Last month, my little girl would have turned five. I’ve lived 60 months without her, 261 weeks and 1825 days. The journey from our goodbye to today has been along a treacherous path. I have stumbled often, I have become lost in the dark, but I have also seen more light and witnessed more beauty…
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Searching For Meaning In Loss
Continue...The day that irrevocably changed my life began simply with hope. My baby girl appeared to be improving in so many tiny yet remarkable ways until she unexpectedly took her last breath. At that moment, darkness wrapped itself around me and enveloped my very existence. My worldview was irrevocably altered, and I discovered that the…
Christian-ese and Grief: Why Those Platitudes Don’t Help The Mourning
After the unexpected death of our son, Turner, everything I knew and felt about my faith and God was shattered. How could my Heavenly Father, who I believe is good and loving, ever want one of his children to experience the death of one of their children? Where was God when I was praying and…