Grief Digest Articles

Introduction:A year ago in January of 2016, grief came knocking at my front door and let itself in without invitation, want, or welcome. My brother, only one year older than myself and my only sibling, died on January 18, 2016 from a blood clot that broke off into his blood stream and went to his brain. His death was instantaneous, and my life was instantly changed in that moment.2016 was a year of trying to navigate the dark, murky, often directionless land of grief. As a Psychologist, intuitiv …

There is a haunting graceIn one grief painted face.Pools of eyes adrift with unshed pain.Belie a hope they’ll see their dead again.There is a haunting graceIn one grief painted face.Tracks of tears make streams of sorrow,Rivulets running,Into an endless sea of tomorrow.There is a haunting graceIn one grief painted face.Seeking solace from all those others,Sorrow’s companions,Grief’s sisters and brothers.There is a haunting graceIn one grief painted face.I’ve seen it many times, and can it be,Tha …

It gets better in ways but not exactly. Nine months after we sat by her bedside just two days after she entered the hospital and watched her last breath, I can now flip through photographs and see fragments of her being and a glimpse of the fire that raged in her five foot body without falling apart. In a way, images are less painful. Moments of a shared past but only shadows of all the senses correlated to the photo. Emotions. Smells. Sounds. Only a part of the past remains on a 4 X 6 heavy sto …

What is grief? The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) defines it as “the normal response of sorrow, emotion, and confusion that comes from losing someone or something important to you. It is a natural part of life. Grief is a typical reaction to death, divorce, job loss a move away from family and friends, or loss of good health due to illness.” Some other causes of grief can be the loss of a pet, the loss of a sense of security and safety – due to an abusive situation, an …

In 2007 four family members died: my elder daughter, father-in-law, brother, and former son-in-law. My daughter Helen was the mother of my twin grandchildren (one boy, one girl) and died from the injuries she received in a car crash. The twins’ father died from the injuries he received in another crash. His death made our grandkids orphans and my husband and me guardians. Suddenly, we were GRGs, grandparents raising grandchildren.The twins were 15 years old when they moved in with us. We couldn’ …