The grief we feel when a pet dies can sometimes rival (or surpass) the grief we feel when a person dies. It gets more complicated when we must decide whether it’s time to end their life. It tears us in so many directions—Who are we to play God?—and while we struggle with the decision and … Continue reading Grief Talk Tuesday: Saying Goodbye to Our 4-Legged Friends
I need steady background noise in order to sleep. I tried a sound machine once, but each sound setting was on a loop. Instead of falling sleep, I was a moth drawn to flame. I’d concentrate on (and anticipate) the end of the loop, over and over and over. After a week, the machine went … Continue reading Grief Talk Tuesday: Operating Instructions
How can you befriend, love, respect, and, ultimately, grieve and miss someone you’ve never met? It’s easy if you’ve never met Cammy Chapel. Some of you remember Lynn’s Weigh , the blog where I wrote about my weight loss and body issues from 2005-2015. Sometime in the late 2000s, Cammy and I discovered each other’s … Continue reading Can You Grieve Someone You Never Met? Absolutely.
A few weeks ago, Carlene started “talking.” When she sits in my lap, she taps my face with her hands and says, “Mum mum mum,” and I am both proud and petrified. When I try to get her to say, “da da,” she always looks confused. “Who’s da da?” I imagine she asks. “He’s the guy we’re both growing up without,” I tell her.
How many times in a day, a week, a month do you say to yourself, "I should have/why didn't I..." and proceed to berate yourself for not doing the thing you think you should have done? My answer is: too many. Living with a loss, in all its forms – death, divorce, employment, friendship, money, … Continue reading Grief Talk: Self-Kindness
between. The thing is, though, that even when we think it’s destroying us, it just might be strengthening us, teaching us more about ourselves than we ever wanted to know.
I'm dedicating Tuesdays to all things grief, including book reviews, links to recommended readings and podcasts, guest posts, and other grief-related topics.
When I feel the griefs, I’ve learned to acknowledge, (“I see you, Grief.”) and allow it (“Here’s some tea, now go sit over there.”) and get about my business, which I did. It’s never easy, but I did it.
Out of nowhere I remembered how much I love magic tricks and fireworks and I felt really happy. Peaceful happy. Fun happy. In awe happy. Don't question why happy.
I laughed at the memory and wanted to share it with Dad, but then I remembered that Dad is gone and so I didn't feel like writing about chairs anymore.
Lynn Haraldson, Author and Writing Mentor 