Death of a Parent

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.

Keith – “Grief at any age”

Keith discusses grief and age.

Creating Mother’s Day Traditions as a member of the Dead Mom Club

About a week after Easter this year, I noticed I was starting to feel off. My sleep wasn’t as restful, experiencing tension in my body, at times I was getting irritated with the simplest things. Then while streaming an episode of television, 4 ads back to back all talking about Mother’s Day. Then came the…

Karyn and Aidan – Our story 2

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

Antoinetta – Things that are hard about school

Antoinetta shares about the challenges she faced when returning to school after her father died

Matt – Crying

Matt talks about men and crying. Matt continues to grieve the death of his birth mother.

Katie – Getting stronger

Katie talks losing her mother when she was young and how the experience helped her when she lost her Dad

Jessica’s Reflections as an Adult Grieving Child

Parents or trusted adults are people children often turn to for support, but my circle of trusted adults was shrinking. My peers were focused on what to wear on civvies day (a day where we didn’t have to wear a uniform), while I was focused on just surviving.

Katie – Coping strategies

Katie explains her coping strategies

Caileigh – Sharing grief experience to spread hope and kindness

Caileigh talks about taking the opportunity to share her personal and professional grief experiences as a way to spread hope and to spread kindness.

Hope – Different lenses

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

Bryan – Empathy for others

Bryan talks about how losing his father to gun violence was difficult and how taking things day by day helped him get through many difficult times. Now he wants to help children who are going through something similar to what he did. Things will get better and there is always a light at the end of the tunnel