Grief Digest Articles

This summer we’ll commemorate the seventeenth anniversary of Peter’s death. It doesn’t seem possible that seventeen years have passed; that I have seventeen years of experiences that don’t include Peter; that I am even alive. The truth is that seventeen years doesn’t feel any different than ten years or fifteen years or, probably, twenty years. It does feel very different than one or two years or, even three, four or five years.Mostly, people think I’m “over it.” Well, in the words of a recent e …

On January 10, 2007, my family received the most tragic and shocking news of our lives. My nephew, Christopher, had completed suicide. When I received the phone call, I jumped in my car immediately, telling myself over and over again for the entire drive to my sister's house, "It's not too late...."How surreal; only eleven days before his sixteenth birthday, he had taken his own life. At first, we couldn't breathe; we couldn't think. We couldn't process this. I felt helpless for my sister, only …

Donna’s spouse died suddenly. It wasn’t supposed to happen, yet, it was all that she could think of as she coped to accept the reality of the event. For months, she was incapacitated by her grief, unwilling to let go of her deepest regrets and lingering pain.Donna’s reactions were normal. Many people who grieve deeply believe that grief will just resolve itself over time. Others search aimlessly for a cure. They want to believe there is some magic potion that will cure the pain forever. Some gri …

By Elaine E. Stillwell, M.A., M.S., Rockville Centre, NYAs I sat in the weekly Weight Watchers meeting, it dawned on me that finding a new life style had so many similarities to those of us creating a new normal as we grieve the loss of our loved ones. Both grieving and losing weight are hard work, step by step procedures, not short-term nor long-term processes, but ones that last a lifetime.In the early days after losing my two eldest children, twenty-one-year old Denis and nineteen-year-old Pe …

by John S. Munday and Fran Wohlenhaus-MundayOne of the persons who can be a great help for mourners at any time on their path to healing is the parish nurse. Of course, not every church has a nurse on its staff, but we strongly believe that such a person, whether paid staff or a volunteer, can make a great difference in the whole life of a congregation.One church we visited in February had recently installed a parish nurse. We met her as she was finishing up her certification procedure—required …