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Articles:

For Memorial Day

I would like to share a fond Memorial Day memory of my deceased mother, Phyllis Jensen.? Mother was a member of the Civic Improvement Club in our small town.? One of her duties was to wire red cellophane poppies on to the white crosses which marked the graves of veterans in our local cemetery.? Faithfully […]

Poem: I Think of You

I Think of You
????????? By Catherine Punton Wilson
I think of you and start to cry,
It breaks my heart that you had to die.
Your final days were filled with even greater pain,
Each day was a struggle, each night a torment
But never did you complain.
Only did you say ” Mom, I want my Normal Life Back”
As the […]

Struggling with Death of Son-in-Law

I was wondering if someone out there could help me to understand or help my daughter (Jacquie). My son-in-law Clinton passed away from melanoma cancer in June of 2006. They together had 3 children and were very much in love with each other. Clinton was 36 years old and a very wonderful husband, father and […]

Poem: My Third Child is Grief

My Third Child Is Grief
??????????? By Sandra Priebe
It?s been three years since my husband suddenly left this earth in the middle of the night.
Jack and I had two children, they are growing and maturing beyond our hopes and dreams.
I?m kept busy guiding and participating in their lives but something else was going on interfering, interrupting […]

Dealing with Grief, Anger and Frustration

My son died last December 6 and on Dec 10 the coroner called me and told me that the autopsy had revealed he died of pneumonia, they knew he?d had no symptoms and there were no drugs or alcohol in his system. Almost as an afterthought he told me that there would be toxicology tests […]

Poem: The Promise of Spring

The Promise of Spring
by Lana Golembeski
It is yet another cold blustery day in Minnesota.
As I look out onto the two feet of snow,
I wonder if spring will ever come.
In my eyes, it looks impossible.
How can spring come?
All I can see is snow
and all I can feel is the cold.
And yet, despite all of that,
I know […]

Poem: A Badge of Courage for Grieving Moms

Mother’s day is a difficult day for all of us who have lost a child. This what I wrote tonight. May it bring peace to those of us who have lost a child and a new understanding to those who walk by our side.
Mother’s Day is a terrible day for those of us who have […]

A Twinless Twin

I am a doctoral student in the School of Nursing at Columbia and I?just listened to your show on twin loss.? My name is Kevin Johnson,? and I had a wonderful twin brother named Kelvin Johnson.? Kelvin died?February 25, 2007.? It is a loss that I do not know how to move on in?life with.? […]

Poem: First Place in Poetry Contest: I’ve Stopped Looking For Him

I’ve Stopped Looking for Him
by Kim Hodne
I?ve stopped looking for him everywhere
I?m not sure when that happened
I don?t search for him in crowds
Or his car on the road
I?ve stopped looking for him
Biking on the paths
Swimming in the ocean
Skiing down the hills
I?ve stopped watching for him
To pull up the drive way
And run in with a hug
And […]

Poem: To My Natasha

?To My Natasha,
Every tear I shed, I shed for you my angel.
The more tears I shed means the more I loved you,
so with out my tears I am nothing ,
My pain is also my love for you,
so how can I wish it away,
Without pain there would have been no love,
My pain is so deep I […]

Open to Hope is an online community offering inspirational stories of loss, hope and recovery. We believe hope is the bridge between loss and recovery.