Grief
Death, Where is Your Sting
Yesterday I attended a memorial service for a friend’s mother. She and her husband lost 3 of their parents in about a year and a half. I thought about them the rest of the evening and dreamed about loved ones who have died. I woke up this morning feeling might low. I felt that it […]
Together
After my son’s family found out that his wife’s mother died, his wife and oldest son flew back East to be with the rest of her family. The younger two children stayed and finished up their school year this week. This morning I took my son and the two kids to the airport so they […]
To the Cemetery
My mom has been wanting to get out to the cemetery for the past couple of days, but she hasn’t felt good and the weather has not cooperated. Today, it was chilly, but the wind was not blowing. Mom felt ok after lunch, so we decided to go. I bought her some flowers the other […]
Grateful for a Sad Heart
The other day, a friend of mine wrote that she was “grateful for a sad heart” after her aunt passed away. That statement seemed like an oxymoron. Today my parents would have celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary. We all had sad hearts here. I pondered my friend’s gratitude as, to me, the pain my mom […]
Grateful For People and Healing
It had been a very long time since I went for a walk outside, so was very happy to go out with friend today. Evidently it had been a very long time since we caught up. We walked and talked and it felt wonderful. As I recounted what I had been up to, I found […]
Survivor Tree
My sister went to New York to visit a friend and returned today. While she was there, they went into New York City and visited the site of 911 among other things. She showed pictures and talked about the “Survivor Tree”, which I had never heard of. Amongst the rubble of the aftermath of the […]
Beautiful Gestures
A friend of mine told me about some ways she is honoring loved ones. A friend of her’s mother passed away. Several months later, her friend contacted her and asked if she would like some of the religious items that the mom had accumulated. She gratefully accepted. One of the items was a statue of […]
The Afterlife
Unfortunately, my mom’s friend who I mentioned yesterday died this morning. I had a “feeling” about that this morning as I prayed a Divine Mercy Chaplet for her. Of course my mom was sad and we talked about our own mortality. She remembered that at one time, her brother died for a couple of minutes […]
Can’t Run From Grief
Last night I went to the grief support group. One thought that struck me was that you can’t run away from grief. It will catch up to you one way or another. When I got home, I looked through the mail and saw a newsletter from the Hospice organization. The first article I came to […]
All Souls Mass
All Souls Day took on new meaning this year with the death of my dad. The church had a Mass dedicated specifically for those who died this past year. I brought a couple photos of my dad to the church. Mom picked out the one with him wearing his military uniform. One photo was fastened […]