A few weeks ago, it was my father’s birthday.  Although he died 38 years ago, his memory is always in my heart. And it is in these days — anniversaries, birthdays, Father’s Day – that his …

The dogs were barking strangely one early morning in July of 1970; I was 15 years old. I knew someone had probably driven up our driveway and was taking their time to come to the …

My father was an immigrant who came to the United States when he was 15 years old. As he did not speak a word of English, he joined the kindergarteners in learning the language. Each …

Father’s Day in 2007 was one of the real highlights of the relationship I had with my dad.  Mom had died in May, 2007. Dad was wearing out (he was 94), but hung on until …

While sorting through boxes and bags, it is not unusual for me to find something unexpected. It happened just the other day. Shifting through a box, I came across a wrinkled, somewhat yellowed piece of …

These are the things you gave me, Dad,
And these are the things I’ll prize…
To find God in a field of corn
And hope in each sunrise,
To learn the greatest truths of all
Seeing nature through …

By Mitch Carmody –
On December 1, 1987, life as I knew it ceased to exist. I watched helplessly as my 9-year-old son’s tired and cancer ravaged body slowly released his spirit. ?I saw his partially …

By Cathi Lammert –
Often times, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are two of the most difficult days for bereaved parents. Some have told me that these days are so painful that they are not able …

By Monica Novak -
When I was a child, I prided myself on making the best homemade cards to show my parents how important they were to me.? Father’s Day was probably the Big Kahuna of …

By Harriet Hodgson –
The death of a child is a lifetime loss and parents never recover from it.? Instead, they learn to live with it.? A popular belief is that men don’t cry; they hold …

Dear Open to Hope Friends:
I wanted to let you know that my first book, FATHERLOSS, has been turned into a PBS special!
The half-hour program will premiere this Saturday, June 20, at 8 p.m. in Kentucky …

By Nina Bennett –
I was used to fixing the problems Timothy, my youngest son, encountered when he was a child. If his older brother knocked down his castle of blocks, I helped him rebuild it. …

By Debra Reagan –
With Father’s Day approaching, I would like to take this opportunity to express my love and gratitude to the father of our sons, my husband, Alan. He carried us through those darkest …

By Yvonne E. Lancaster –??
When I was a little girl, I fell from our tree swing.? I was gently picked up and carried into the house where Band-Aids were carefully placed on my scuffed-up knees.? …

By Sandra Pesmen –
If you want to celebrate any holiday, especially Father’s Day, you have to learn to deal with anger and guilt?.?
Whether we widows admit it or not, when our spouse dies, most of …

Psychiatrist Norman J. Fried reflects on the pain children feel after the death of their father, and the paradox that fatherhood poses for all of us