Accommodating Grief
Every day, I make accommodations for this grief. Every. Single. Day. Without exception. On a “good” day, that might look like excusing myself to the bathroom at work where I can cry in private, if only for a few minutes,…
Every day, I make accommodations for this grief. Every. Single. Day. Without exception. On a “good” day, that might look like excusing myself to the bathroom at work where I can cry in private, if only for a few minutes,…
A long time ago a “friend” referred to me as a professional griever. From his perspective, I was lugubrious or “over the top” in the long-term expression of my grief. He had lost one son to SIDS, two years before…
My cherished and fiercely loved son Jordan died by suicide in April of 2009 at the age of 19. In the minutes, hours, days and weeks that followed, I struggled to figure out how to live with a heart that…
Darkness arrives without her knowing as she sits quietly mourning her thoughts. The shadows in the room fade into memories of the past, the place she often hesitates as she attempts again to push away the anguish in search of…
I never meant to become any sort of expert in sibling loss. That’s not a path anyone would willingly choose for themselves. Back in high school, I remember standing in the funeral home at my friend’s wake. After hugging his…
From the moment we learned of our daughter’s death, I knew that the word “suicide” had the power to erase her life while emblazoning her death in neon letters in the minds of her friends and colleagues. During the unremitting…
One of the most uplifting gifts I’ve ever heard of giving someone in a time of loss is a wicker basket full of daffodil bulbs. The idea is for the recipient to plant one bulb for every year their loved…
You might say I am an experienced griever. My brother, my only sibling, died more than 30 years ago. So, I know what to expect in the days, weeks, months and years after someone close dies. And yet, this year…
If there is ever a time in life when we need others to support and nurture us, it’s when someone we love dies. In many ways, “grief work” is the most difficult work we will ever do. And hard work…
On July 12th, as part of the 2014 TCF National Conference in Chicago, a first-of-its-kind symposium will be held on the subject of men in grief. This special 3-hour program presented for-men-only will explore the challenges, issues and opportunities that…
