Birthdays feel different when your mother is dead. No one makes you feel special the way that she did. Why your birthdays feel so very different when your mother is dead No one starts your morning with a phone call the way that she did. And no one buys you a dozen pink roses the…
The final stage of grief lasts forever. My mother has been dead for 10 years. But I’ve been grieving her loss for over 15 years.
The expected death of a loved one still hurts terribly. My mother lived with early onset Alzheimer’s disease for over a decade. She lived in a nursing home with advanced dementia for almost five years. And she lived on hospice care for two years. I prepared for her death for years. I was relieved, of…
What are your favorite funeral songs? They can be either popular songs or church hymns, or both. I’ve planned three funerals, one for my mom and one for each of her parents. So I’ve had some time to think about this. A couple of my favorites are Alan Jackson’s version of Blessed Assurance (makes me…
Your grief does not make me uncomfortable. I won’t try to fix your grief. I won’t tell you platitudes like, “They’re in a better place,” or, “At least you had x amount of time with them.” I won’t dismiss or invalidate your feelings. I won’t tell you not to cry. I won’t tell you that…
