Death of a Parent

The First Fathers’ Day Without Dad

When you lose a person in the generation before you, you begin to think about what they meant to you. When you lose a parent, you think about all they meant, and you hoped you either lived up to the best of yourself, or in some cases where the parenting was not as instructive or kind, you hope you’ve raised yourself beyond difficult circumstances.

Antoinetta – Grieving in community with others

Antoinetta discusses how grief camp made her feel so much more happy and how she found support and that she did not feel so alone

Logan – Advice

Logan discusses how its good tp let out your emotions

Matt – Adoption and grief

Matt talks about how adoption and grief have similarities. Matt continues to grieve the death of his birth mother.

Jackie – Expressive arts can help when grief is confusing

Jackie talks about how working with an artist therapist helped her after her sister and mother died

Bryan – Mom

Bryan gives his mother credit for how well she raised her two sons after her husband was murdered

Lisa – Music and her connection with her father

Lisa talks about the gratitude she has for reconnecting with her father before he died and how much music was a connection for them

Zoreena – Passing on kindness

Zoreena talks about wakes, funerals, COVID and the importance of kindness

Karyn and Aidan – Our story

Karyn and Aidan – Karyn tells the story leading up to John’s death during the pandemic

Logan – My story

Logan talks about the death of his father and bone cancer and how writing music helped

Holly – Singing in the last days

Holly talks about her partner’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis, the pandemic, their decisions, faith and how singing

Keeping Records

I pulled the photos out of their envelope one at a time, turning over each one to carefully record the date, place, and people in the photo. Sometimes, I included comments. “Apple picking in Hamilton with Pop Pop, Fall, 2023. You loved the wagon ride!”. I slipped each picture into an empty pocket in my son’s photo album.