Grief Digest Articles

By Ama There’s a kind of grief that doesn't come with casseroles or condolences. It doesn’t wear black or take time off work. No one calls to check in. There’s no ceremony, no eulogy. But it can hollow you out just the same. It’s the grief for the life you should have had. I’m talking about the grief that lives in people like me, people who grew up without safety, without care, without anyone to tell them they mattered. People who were hurt and then blamed for it. W …

By Harikleia Sirmans Orthodox Easter had always been a joyful day for my family in Greece, roasting lambs, cracking red eggs, drinking wine, and dancing. But Easter in April 2012 was tragic. I was shopping at Sally’s in Georgia, where I’d made my home since 2000, when my cell phone rang with news that would bridge the 5,500 miles between my two worlds. It was my husband asking me to meet him at our house. “What is it?” I asked. “Just come home and I’ll tell y …

By Ama Grief has always been a mystery to me, a puzzle I never learned how to solve, no matter how much I wished I could. My first true encounter came with my grandmother's passing. I was very young, still in school, and I couldn't grasp why someone so kind, so full of love, would simply vanish. The pain felt like a knife, carving my heart in two. Every night, I dreamt of her, pleading for her not to leave me alone.  An unbearable ache settled in my chest. Breathing …

By Heather Mahaney “The email arrived less than two days after he died. Not condolences. Not memories. Just an inventory of our possessions.” The End of Us Four and a half weeks before my husband died, we got the devastating news: lung cancer. It hit us like a freight train, a sudden storm that shattered the fragile calm I had clung to for years. He was admitted to the hospital, and as the days slipped away, I watched the man I thought I knew crumble before me.  Three days befor …

By Nan Zastrow  You never know how you will react to the death of a significant loved one until it happens to you. Even when it happens again.  It’s been 30 years since the death of our son; and I knew his loss would be with me for a lifetime. I thought I would be prepared for the death of my husband should that happen before my own.  But I was wrong. He died in January 15,2023. Someone recently said to me, “Well you should get over this quickly, you’ve been thro …