Death of a Parent

Grief & Ice Cream

When my wife of 18 years died in 2016, I became a single father missing the love of my life, and also had to learn how to raise two girls (13-17 at the time) on my own. I remember a conversation I had with my mother-in-law and oldest daughter that began as reminiscing over a person who became a lost love to all of us. We all talked about different aspects of my wife but shortly, it transformed into a “who meant more to her” fest.

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

Katie – Coping strategies

Katie explains her coping strategies

Amber – Keeping Dad’s memory alive

Amber tells how she set up a Dad adventure day to keep the memory of her father alive for her kids and husband

Hope – Different lenses

Hope shares about the differences in experiences between losing her father and her Mom losing a spouse

Jeff – “Talking About Grief”

Jeff outlines the story of losing his mother to cancer and the difficulty he experienced when he struggled to acknowledge his grief after her death.

Cheryl and Mike – “Grieving more than one person”

Mike and Cheryl discuss how it gets complicated with multiple losses. They continue to grieve Cheryl’s father and the death their daughter in a car accident.

Amber – Talking about death

Amber explains why it’s so important to talk about grief and her kids

Katie – My Story

Katie shares about her story and losing her Dad to cancer during COVID

Cheryl and Mike – “Multiple losses”

Cheryl and Mike discuss the differences in loss of people who love you unconditionally. They continue to grieve Cheryl’s father and the death their daughter in a car accident.

Scott – The grieving process

Scott talks about how his song ‘The Good Man James” was about his father, their relationship and how it helped him process their relationship. Find the song at his website www.dotbmusic.ca

Reflections on Mother’s Day

Mother’s day is a holiday where we show appreciation and care for the maternal roles in our lives. However, this holiday can feel very overwhelming for those of us who are grieving the death of a mother figure, a mother grieving their child, or those of us grieving the loss of not being able to become mothers ourselves.