Open to Hope Articles

Articles Home

Coping with the Down Days

Posted on January 5, 2023 - by Harriet Hodgson

Coping With the Down Days The year after my husband John died, my grief brain was at its peak. I wanted to give my brain a rest, but I couldn’t […]

Letter to a Dear Pet: One Year After Her Death

Posted on January 5, 2023 - by Veronica Crawford

Letter to a Dear Pet Dear Blaze, my spirited and loyal friend. It has been twelve months since you transitioned. Just twelve months, yet it feels like a lifetime ago. […]

Dear Max: Last Words to a Special Dog

Posted on January 3, 2023 - by Veronica Crawford

Dear Max – AKA squishy, macchiato, mackie, snowy, little man, maximus and monkey. I miss you so much. So much that it hurts to think about it. I haven’t fully […]

Christmas Alone is Different Kind of Christmas

Posted on December 18, 2022 - by Annah Elizabeth

Coping with Christmas Alone Christmas has always been my most favorite time of year, Neighbor. The twinkling lights, the glitter, the festive colors, and a human generosity that seems more […]

‘Our Marriage Would Hold Us’: Family after Child-Loss

Posted on December 17, 2022 - by Sherry Cassedy

Fog of Disbelief The morning after our son’s accident, my husband Matt and I sat with the neurosurgeon in a small reception room off the hospital trauma unit. He explained […]

Marriage after Child-Loss: Enduring the Worst Together

Posted on December 15, 2022 - by Sherry Cassedy

The Call It is the call in the middle of the night that every parent dreads. Like other parents, I had carried a constant prayer in my heart for 30 […]

Avoiding the ‘Holiday Rabbit Hole’

Posted on December 13, 2022 - by Nina Impala

The Holiday Rabbit Hole The other night I was just feeling down thinking of sad things, missing my mom and dad. Being a senior now in my 60’s, death seems […]

Coping With the Loss of a Beloved Pet

Posted on December 11, 2022 - by Jacqui Coombe

Introduction Our animal family members provide us with joy, loyalty, and unconditional love. The loss of a beloved pet can be an excruciating experience. Despite that, our society can trivialise […]

It IS Possible To Survive Christmas While Grieving

Posted on December 9, 2022 - by Linda Zelik

Surviving Christmas While Grieving Surviving Christmas, supposedly the most joyous day of the year, without our beloved 24-year-old son seemed impossible. However, I did survive and it turned out not […]

Missed Miscarriage

Posted on December 8, 2022 - by Colette Kenny Verdes

What is a Missed Miscarriage? Two years ago this week, I got pregnant. Sometime that June, at my 9-week doctor’s appointment, I would find out that I had “a missed […]