Grief Digest Articles

Love is a sacred partnership of communion with another human being. You take each other in, and even when you are apart, you are together. Wherever you go, you carry the person inside you. Communion means the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially on a spiritual level. When two people love one another, they are connected. They are entwined. The word “communion” comes from the Old French comuner, which means “to hold in common.” Note that this is different than “ …

Nassau County, New York is served by a very professional and community service-oriented police department. The Nassau County Police Department has approximately 2400 police officers and 1200 civilian employees, including an elite group of 210 Police Medics. The Police Medics (formerly known as Ambulance Medical Technicians, or AMTs,) serve the many communities of Nassau County, addressing medical emergencies whether they be small or life-threatening. Whether you’re a police officer or a civil …

Living life without your child is like falling, quite by accident, into a deep, dark well in the wee hours of the morning. At first your entire body is underwater. You can’t breathe. But that’s okay, because if you don’t breathe, you will die. You’re not sure you want to live anyway. After all, dying means you will be with your child. Then, without willing it, your body’s natural buoyancy brings your head above the water. It’s your body’s survival-mode kicking in. You’re able to breathe, but tr …

Several years ago after the death of a dear friend, I experienced a "broken" heart--a pain in my heart that I was sure would never heal. The pain was so intense that I truly understood what it meant to have a broken heart. I felt like I had a huge hole in my heart, and I couldn't believe how painful that hole was. In addition to my own experience of a broken heart, I have worked with several grieving clients who talked about the pain in their hearts and we connected when I not only understood …

The voice of silence is all around us—it is rooted in the pain from the loss of our son and brother, Nathan. It is the silence of sorrow in our home because one of our sons is gone, and it is the silent voice of the sudden, quiet expression that comes over a person’s face when we merely say his name. We see and feel his loss every time we participate in a celebration, a cookout, a graduation, an accomplishment by his brother or cousins reaching some milestone of their lives. We feel the los …