Grappling with Grief

Share Your Why: Bonnie Kelly

by Bonnie Kelly   To put it simply, my dad died in 2004. I was 14. A tween who didn’t know who she was, let alone what the heck had just happened to her young family unit. From what I remember, my 14-year-old brain had it something like this: Dad started drinking Vitamin Water because […]

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Keep Memories Alive While Normalizing Grief

by Alexa Hill   On February 11, 2019, my life was at its best. I was married to the most amazing man, we had just bought our first home, I had started a wonderful new job and (most importantly) I had a beautiful son who was celebrating his third birthday. At the end of the […]

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Death and Its Terrible, Beautiful Lessons

by Becky Aud-Jennison   You know that thing that happens when you’ve been thinking about something and then you start seeing it all over the place? People who get pregnant suddenly see pregnant people everywhere. The car model you just bought seems to suddenly be taking over the world. Those creepy Google ads that come […]

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Living with the Grief of Suicide

by Angela Suttner   The night of December 21, 2016, my family’s life forever changed. We lost our son, Kenneth Louis Suttner, to bullycide. My husband and I planned our child’s funeral three days before Christmas. Kenny was only seventeen years old, and it made national news. Nearly six years later, I still think about […]

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Finding Inspiration in Life’s Devastations

by Amber Bradbury   One midsummer night on July 1, 2013, life as I knew it shattered. All it took was a knock on my door. Behind it stood two police officers sadly notifying me, the “next of kin,” that my mom was the victim of a fatal knife attack by her mentally deranged neighbor. […]

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All of My Love: Bianca Zimperi

by Bianca Zimperi   “Our lives will never be the same without our Lisa.” Those were the words written by my mom as she sat at our kitchen table in disbelief after ten shocking days in the ICU. She was struggling to understand how she found herself having to write an obituary for her beautiful […]

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Walk With Me: Jamie Stewart

by Jamie Stewart   It’s hard to believe one moment can change your life — that one moment can shatter your world. I was uneasy sitting in my chair, waiting to get called into the ultrasound room. I always got a little anxious prior to our appointments. The nervousness was definitely trumped by excitement, considering […]

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Do It For Nick: Lydia Alvidrez

by Lydia Alvidrez   This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255. Nicholas (Nick) Ruiz, my only child; was 16-years-old when he took his own life. He was a junior in high school and a good student. He loved […]

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Eat, Sleep, Grieve, Repeat: Naomi Matthams

by Naomi Matthams   My name is Naomi, and I lost my mum to ovarian cancer in January 2014, five years after being diagnosed with the cruel disease. My mum was only 64 when she died and left behind my dad, brother, and me, as well as a wider family and lots of very good […]

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Grieving With Words: Isabelle Sharman

by Isabelle Sharman   In the summer of 2020, I met the love of my life. I didn’t know it at the time, but he was about to become my best friend, my safe place, and my guiding light. My perpetually single and independent self would have scoffed at those words a few years prior, […]

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