401 results for 'from hope to dispair''

Every Christmas my husband Roy is gifted with several new jigsaw puzzles. He has an annual competition with his sister in law to see who will be the first to complete the identical puzzles they recei

Geralyn Stephens-Gunn, EdDIt’s my birthday! It is a beautiful July summer day and I am so excited to see what the day holds. I arise. I fed and let the dogs out. Once they are situated, I begin my

wandering from room to roomafraid of the radiator clangsunsure if they can be fixed.Sleep disturbed.Looking at your yellow sweater on our bedmemories of dressy, happy times,standing close by the firep

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 sh

A MemoirMy grandfather, Opa, wasn’t a demonstrative person. It was as if he spoke with his eyes. If you did something wrong, don’t think he wouldn’t know. He could stop you in your tracks with just

By Heather Hattie-Mae Mahaney For as long as I can remember, music was our language. My late husband used to make me mixed tapes — carefully crafted collections of songs that somehow said all the thin

Dealing with grief while learning a new way to love.By: Whitney SirekI was 26 years old when my mom died in 2019. I never imagined living a life without her, she would warn me of this day. Often s

I’ve been away from my home for a few days helping with my sister who has Alzheimer’s. As if grief doesn’t surround my heart enough already, I am now grieving the loss of my sweet sister’s mind, perso

There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition

Today was a very special day for me, for I was both a seventy-eight year old man and a child again. I was in a melancholy mood because one of our best and most loyal friends had died. By our standards

Some people will never understand the pain of losing a beloved pet. For those who feel the emotional depths of this type of loss, it can be confusing and frustrating to interact with people who for a

Ten Steps to Reducing TensionBy Nancy WeilIt sneaks up on us at the most unexpected times. It doesn’t take much to send us there: an inappropriate comment from someone, too much to do and no energy to

By Sandra Tow On that morning in January, the only things I could focus on in the room were my anger at the irony my mother was about to face a real killer and the tinny voice radiating from the telev

Guidelines on how to talk to grieving children about deathThrough the years I have learned a great deal from many grieving children and their families. They have taught me which words work best when t

As I got up from by desk to head downstairs from my office, from the balcony above I saw him walking into the mail room below. He looked as he always did, a fifty-something professor, the same colleag

For most of us, grief is uncharted territory. When a loved one dies, we enter into some of life’s most turbulent and troubled waters. It is important to find people and resources who can help us find

By Camille Johnson Bereaved parents, caregivers, and families living with grief often carry emotional pain that makes ordinary tasks feel unfamiliar. Loss can shrink a support circle overnight, leavin

Shows like Shrinking & Afterlife make real grief the new popular plot threadBy Carole TrottereI don’t want to talk about it. That’s the way grief and loss were handled back on TV in the 1970s with

You’ve probably heard about it on Oprah: The Secret. It’s a book, a DVD, an audio CD, and it’s big. What is The Secret? Well, the folks who produced it probably won’t like my brief definition, but her

There used to be a dog food commercial on television that always brought tears to my eyes. It showed a young girl running up a flight of stairs and calling for a friend. The friend, a red haired Iri