Recent Articles
11/24/2015
Christmas is an especially difficult holiday when there is an empty chair at the table following the death of a loved one. The first Christmas after my lovely mother died we felt a deep sadness seeing that empty chair. Instead of jumping right into the festivities and ignoring that a special person was not present, […]
12/21/2014
When there is a death in a family, Christmas can be so painful because everyone else seems so happy. One mother told me, “Watching their joy is bad enough, but the real pain is when our child’s name is not even mentioned; when no one recalls Christmases past, when my son was there with them, […]
12/18/2014
By Liv Lane What Can I Say To A Grieving Friend This Christmas Season? Here are some expressions that have comforted my family over the past year and some I’ve learned from friends who have experienced great loss, too… I don’t expect a call back. For over a week after my dad died, a dear friend […]
11/11/2015
How can we honor and care for our veterans? Steve says, For one year I served in Vietnam, and for twenty-one years that experience was buried deep inside my consciousness with only an occasional glimpse allowed to others. Then in 1988 I visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. It was the most profound cathartic […]
09/30/2015
Can’t Fix. Can Acknowledge. How are we supposed to respond to people’s pain? What are we supposed to say to someone who lost a child? Kendra Broekhuis says, “Since our 20 week ultrasound when we were told our daughter probably wouldn’t live, and since the death of our daughter, I realized that I was hurt […]
02/13/2016
In 1972 Joe Biden was elected to the Senate and a week later his wife and daughter were killed in a car crash. In a 2012 speech, Joe Biden talked about the constant weight of grief. He says, “Just when you think, ‘Maybe I’m going to make it,’ you’re riding down the road and you […]
11/21/2014
Please think before you speak especially when talking to someone who is grieving or suffering. The following are some sentences to avoid: “You’ll get over it.” “I’m sure it will be just fine.” (How do they know?) “You look awful.” (Wow that really helps!) “You look great.” (Implying that the person should also feel great.) […]
