Grief Digest Articles

Dawn Allen Dawn, I’m so sorry for your loss, call me if you need anything. I heard this phrase more times than I can count when I lost my husband Ash to that vicious unrelentless disease called cancer. In that moment, it was just words, it didn’t mean anything to me. I had just lost my husband of 12 years, the father of my children, who were ages 13 and 8 at the time. I didn’t know what I needed. I was on autopilot I had been on autopilot for months. One day a man who never got …

By Jenny Leavitt I never expected to lose my child. I don’t think any mother does. When my son Jacob died in a car crash—killed instantly by a drunk driver—my world split wide open. Just moments before, I was the mother of two boys. A woman of faith who believed in miracles, purpose, and divine protection. Then, in a single second, I was someone else. People saw me as a “grieving mother.” But grief is more than sorrow. It’s disorientation. It’s forgettin …

Mary Ellen T. Miller PhD, RN, PHNA-BC 4/5/25 Spring is my favorite season. I feel excited seeing the rebirth of tree buds, flowers bursting up from the still semi-frozen ground and the return of robins to my backyard! Spring is also a bittersweet season for me. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are celebrated during this time. These days bring me both joy and sadness. Four decades ago, Marissa, our firstborn died in a NICU when she was 8 days old due to complications of prematurity. Six …

In the house with the tortoise chair she will give birth to the pearl to the beautiful feather  in the house of the goddess who sits on a tortoise she will give birth to the necklace of pearls to the beautiful feathers we are    there she sits on the tortoise swelling to give us birth   on your way on your way child be on your way to me here you whom I made new come here child come be pearl come be feather.   —Aztec prayer in Jerome Rothenberg’s Shak …

For decades, the Great Banana Sticker War raged on, fought with stealth and sticky yellow badges of honor. It began simply enough – a father's playful impulse to stick a Chiquita banana label on his young daughter's back, sending her unwittingly into the world wearing the fruit company's iconic logo. She discovered it hours later, after countless knowing smiles from strangers, and thus began an epic battle of wit and adhesive. No occasion was safe. Birthday parties became tactical op …