How hard it is to be bereaved during the winter holiday season. The demands of the season for cheerfulness, socializing, and giving are intense even for those who are not in the midst of mourning. …

We are finally at an end of what has often been a brutal winter. While gazing at the mountains of snow piled high in my front yard and the foot-long icicles hanging from my roof, it was …

For three months this winter, the mid-Atlantic was locked in a hard freeze. The ground was solid, trees bare, and the flower beds were buried under dirt-encrusted snow. Birds were mobbing the feeder out back, …

Holidays and other special days are times that we miss our loved ones more acutely.  It is these family gatherings where everyone is joyful that make the void feel more enormous.  
After suffering through my first …

The holiday season is painful for adults after the death of a loved one, but it can be even more isolating and distressing for children if they are not given ample guidance from the adults …

The holidays have arrived. Normally they are a time for family fun and celebration but when you are grieving the loss of someone who has died, the season is different: it is painful.
Grieving is a …

Do you feel like there’s just too much to do during the holiday season?
If you’re caregiving, I’d be willing to bet that your stress levels are ramping on up there about now.  
It’s not that it’s not all good …

Let me enjoy Christmas
I want to feel the sparkle
The white of the lights
The colors of the season.
Let me enjoy Christmas
I want to get beyond
The crowds at the mall
For all the right seasons.
Let me enjoy Christmas
I …

The holidays are here.  Normally, they are a time for family fun and celebration but when someone you loved has died, the season may be painful and lonely.
When grieving ,we can feel completely overwhelmed with sadness.  We …

I have a hard time believing it is the season of holidays again. While this year should be easier since it will be our fifth Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s without our son Daniel, I …

That holiday-pang hit my stomach the first October after Daniel died. Greeting me at an arts and craft shop were gold and silver stockings, a Christmas tree draped with turquoise balls and a wreath of …

Dreading the upcoming holidays? If you’ve recently lost your spouse, the coming festivities can feel as unwelcome as Marley’s Ghost. Here are some tried and true strategies for facing the holiday season:
1)   Think ahead and …

The holiday season after my divorce found me overwhelmed and almost totally unprepared.  It was a traumatic time, especially for my three young sons. Their father was gone. I went from being a full-time, at-home …

It’s overwhelming to face a tragedy that you never saw coming.
Grief rises up suddenly from the meadows of life like an insurmountable peak. The base is vast and panoramic. You can see nothing beyond the …

That holiday-pang hit my stomach the first October after Daniel died. Greeting me at an arts and craft shop were gold and silver stockings, a Christmas tree draped with turquoise balls and a wreath of …

That holiday-pang hit my stomach the first October after Daniel died. Greeting me at an arts and craft shop were gold and silver stockings, a Christmas tree draped with turquoise balls and a wreath of …