Death of a Spouse

Give Yourself a G.I.F.T. This Holiday Season

Thursday, October 31, 2019

The holidays are a time of togetherness and family traditions. It’s even been dubbed the “most wonderful time of the year.” But for many in the widowed community, it can be filled with grief, loneliness, and reminders of our loss. Once solid relationships with family and friends may have frayed throughout the year because our grief was too much for them to handle and our in-laws, one of the last few connections to our spouse, might as well be called “outlaws.” If you’re fortunate enough to have been invited – and accepted – to spend the holidays with loved ones, […]

Open to Hope

Death of Husband Led Her to Stop Fearing Life

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

The word “fear”. Take a moment to think about what fear means to you. To me, the word brings up a million different images. To most, it means that they are afraid of something: afraid to speak in public, or scared and nervous to try something new, which is often actually a fear of failure. To me, fear means that I am not stepping outside of my comfort zone and I am not taking healthy chances. All changes, all goals and all life choices are the result of looking fear in the face. Fear causes people not to live. That […]

Death of a Parent, Open to Hope

Writer Penny Slusher on Somber-Free Rites

Thursday, January 8, 2015

writer Penny Slusher

Buying presents for the dead and gifting them; knowing your “mama dance” and texting as the deceased: this and more when memory artist, Nancy Gershman talks with writer and actress Penny Slusher about somber-free rites. Currently, Slusher is working on a one-woman show about the house she grew up in Bristol Tennessee, and how living with tragic events affected the family in their daily lives. Take your meals with the dying, whether they’re hungry or not Be what the dying need you to be Behave as if the dying still care about manners Study your mom so one day you can do The Mama Dance Before you […]

Open to Hope

Random Acts of Kindness

Friday, November 28, 2014

As a way for families to honor their child and to help themselves heal, MISS Foundation began “The Kindness Project” in 1997. By 2007, more than 750,000 Kindness Project cards have been used around the globe to perform random acts of kindness in memory of a child, parent, friend, or spouse who died before their time. The idea is to perform random acts of kindness in the community, usually anonymous. A little card is left behind so that the person who benefits from the kindness knows that someone’s life and death continues to matter. Anyone can participate by ordering Kindness […]

Death of a Spouse, Your Grief

A Widow Remembers the First Year of Holidays

Monday, November 10, 2014

Yes, they’re coming! We can’t hide, it’s inevitable. The holidays are here! Although my young children were grieving in their own ways, they looked forward to Christmas, presents, decorations, and celebrations. My oldest daughter was in second grade and my youngest was in kindergarten. This was the first year of holidays without their father. They participated in all their class activities for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas that year. In their grief, these special days in school appeared to give them relief, joy, and laughter. For me, in my first year of widowhood, I despised the holidays coming. I wasn’t looking forward to any of them! […]

Open to Hope

Meaningful Suffering

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

“No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell.”                                                                                                         ~C.G. Jung I don’t know if it’s the time of year, phase of life, or just my peculiar vantage point, but almost everyone I know is going through some serious suffering. I’m not […]

Bereavement, Death of a Parent, Open to Hope

Playwright Ann Randolph on Writing about Grief

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

playwright Ann Randolph

How is a performance and a post-show creative writing workshop sparking a national discourse on grief? This and more when memory artist Nancy Gershman sits down with playwright and comedian, Ann Randolph to talk about her one-woman show, LOVELAND – and the transformative and healing power of writing about grief.  Learn more about Randolph’s week-long “Write Your Life”workshops, by visiting Ann at www.AnnRandolph.com. “When you’re dead jokes” can be conversation starters  Ashes exposed can bring strangers together With nothing left to lose, liberated behaviors surface Writing about grief in a group setting forms “community” Turn your inner critic into a character you can stand up to  We […]

Death of a Sibling

Sister Unloads Grief Years After Brother’s Suicide

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

I was a sweet, blue-eyed seven-year-old girl watching The Parent Trap while my big brother was babysitting. He got me a cup of water after asking if there was anything I needed. Little did I know my answer should have been, “I need my big brother.” Only minutes later I heard a heart-stopping, deafening boom. I sat there, frozen. What was that? My blonde hair on the back of my neck was standing up, and my ears were ringing. The terrifying noise was the gun my brother used to take his own life. Thirteen years later, that emotionally scarred little […]

Death of a Child

Navigating the Ebb and Flow of Grief

Friday, June 28, 2013

At almost four years after the death of my daughter, I had thought it would be easier than this. In those early days and months when my grief made it feel like I simply couldn’t survive this loss, I saw others in support groups who had lost their loved ones many years before, and they seemed ok. They looked almost “normal” again. They told me it wouldn’t always be like this. They said you learn to live with the pain, and it would lessen over time. They said you will eventually find joy and happiness again. They said you create […]

Death of a Child

Loss of a Child is the Hardest Goodbye

Monday, March 4, 2013

I had always dreaded goodbyes, feared separating from my family all my life and was destined to face the hardest separation of all. Since the day I started going to boarding school, my only fear in life was separation as I went to boarding school at the age of six. At my first boarding school, I had my older sisters with me and two years later my younger brother joined the boys’ school and I was able to see him during school days as the young boys came daily to our school until grade 3. I remember that I spent […]