Question from a Reader:  I don’t know where or how to start. I lost a beloved dog a month ago. My other dog is critically ill. I lost a very good friend earlier this year. …

Loneliness is not a surprising by-product of widowhood.  I mean, even for the people who have never been through it, it’s a no-brainer.  But frankly, I think that “lonely” is not a strong enough word.
 
There …

I am a cat-lover, I will admit it.  Growing up, I had cats here and there, but my dad was really intolerant of the normal pet things like fleas and “accidents” on the carpets, so …

Question from a reader:  It’s now been six months since my mother died. In many ways it seems like worlds and eons since then, but in some ways not at all. I really miss her …

After my husband died, I began to eat “carry out dinners.”  And I ate them alone, sitting on the couch in the den.
 
Then one night, while I was standing in a Mexican restaurant waiting for …

I taught school for a dozen years and loved every one of them. But the day came when I realized I had done everything I could with my job and had no more to give. …

 
The left side of the bed where my husband used to sleep remained neatly made, hardly a ripple disturbing the quilted surface. I slept on the right side each night, where I had been for …

After my four-year-old died, I was certain my family would never be the same again. It is true and has been proven over and over that we will no longer be the typical family living …

Last night, I slept in the middle of our king-size bed. It took me two years to do that. For 55 years, I shared that bed with my husband.
He never walked on water. Sometimes we …

During summer breaks, my 12-week reprieve from the regimented early-morning school schedule, my three girls and I love to sleep in and lounge around in our pajamas all morning (okay, they lounge while I do …

J.C. writes in: I know everyone says that people grieve in their own way. I just need to know that I am ok. My grandmother helped raise me. A couple weeks after I graduated from …

Grief in Slow Motion
The heart is a fragile vessel
Navigating the sea of emotions
Every day and every night
Grief in slow motion.
Drowning in our tears
Surrendering to the pain
And, our loss of hope
We all feel the same.
One day …

The first few days in the hospital I was told by my father’s doctor that he had experienced several more strokes. One of the strokes required 4-5 nurses to hold him down. He …

By Alice Wisler –
When I invited Martha to the gathering at my house, she accepted the invitation cheerfully.? Martha was new to the area and so I thought this small potluck I was hosting would …

By Claire M. Perkins –??
I’ve been thinking about the Easter story as a metaphor for my own journey through grief. I’ve been thinking about Good Friday and the days leading up to it, because in …

By Monica Novak
I didn?t see it coming. None of us did. How could we? For Heidi, Tracy, Wendy, and me, it came with the words, ?There?s no heartbeat.? For Dawn, Beth, and Darlene, the crushing …