Monday, December 27, 2021

Voices of Experience: My Journey Home, by Sphinx

Sphinx and her big brother Beck

Life is eternal, and love is immortal, and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight.  ~ Rossiter Worthington Raymond

Author Maverick Jayce is currently working on her next project, this time a science fiction novel. It is a little out of her normal genre, she notes, but her creativity knows no boundaries ~ as her short story below demonstrates. Maverick wrote My Journey Home as a way of coping with the loss of her cat Sphinx to leukemia in May of 2020. It is printed here with her permission:

Sunday, December 26, 2021

Understanding and Managing Grief, December 19 - December 25, 2021

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders has named prolonged grief disorder a condition as people increasingly experience ongoing loss. Prolonged Grief Receives New Recognition « Seven Ponds 

There are two situations in which talking about your loss may do you more harm than good. When It Helps to Talk About Your Grief (and When It Doesn't) « lifehacker

Monday, December 20, 2021

This Holiday Season and Beyond: I Wish You Enough

Dear Ones,

This story came to me over the Internet a while ago. I've since learned that it was taken from a piece originally written by Bob Perks, and it is reprinted here with his permission. I hope it touches your heart as it does my own:

Recently, I overheard a father and daughter in their last moments together [at a regional airport.] 

They had announced her departure and standing near the security gate, they hugged and he said, "I love you. I wish you enough." 

Sunday, December 19, 2021

Understanding and Managing Grief, December 12 - December 18, 2021

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

Pets become close members of our families. When they are gone, the grief of their passing can be immense. Here's how to show up for someone going through this loss. What Not To Say To People Grieving A Sick, Lost Or Dead Pet « HuffPost Life 

The latest installment of Sex and the City has unleashed a mini-controversy — but for some, the drama has the power to stir up painful real-life memories.  Spoiler alert: Grief is never over 'Just Like That' « The Hill

Monday, December 13, 2021

In Grief: Dreading Mom's Stone-Setting Ceremony

[Reviewed and updated August 2, 2023]

Believe you can and you're halfway there.  ~ Theodore Roosevelt

A reader writes: Today is 9 months to the date and day that my dear mother passed away. I miss her more than words can express, but I know you know exactly what I mean as you can relate it to your loved one that has passed on.

Anyway, it is customery in the Jewish religion to have a "Stonesetting" within the first year after a loved one has passed on. It's a simple ceremony at the gravesite that dedicates the headstone to the loved one who has passed. There are a few passages read and whoever wants to say anything can. When the headstone is placed, which is prior to the ceremony, there is a piece of muslin over the stone and sometime in the ceremony my brothers and I take it off. I am DREADING this!!!

Sunday, December 12, 2021

Understanding and Managing Grief, December 5 - December 11, 2021

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

I’ve attended vigils and memorials and trials. But nothing brings back the dead. And so we have to learn to live with loss, as impossible as it can feel sometimes. These are some things that ease the pain of grief from someone who’s been there.  People should not run from their grief « The Bona Venture

Monday, December 6, 2021

Pet Loss: Struggling With My Cat’s Ending

If you are someone who is struggling with intense guilt, I encourage you 
to remember two important things: 1) you are human and humans aren’t perfect 2) you loved your pet and guilt, not you, is the villain.  ~ Dana Durrance  

A reader writes: I have been going through your website and have found a lot of helpful articles. But I haven’t found the answers I so desperately need . . . How can I live with myself? Did I do right by him, even in his final weeks? Did he know he was loved and wanted? Was it worth being home for those hours for him, even though I think his heart got worse (maybe the stress relief did lower his heart rate even more)? Was that final purr session meaningful?

Sunday, December 5, 2021

Understanding and Managing Grief, November 28 - December 4, 2021

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

The number of U.S. deaths from COVID-19 has surpassed 775,000. But left behind are tens of thousands of children — some orphaned entirely — after their parents or a grandparent who cared for them died. How unresolved grief could haunt children who lost a parent or caregiver to COVID « PBS News Hour