Stories About Loss & Grieving
Invisible Helper
Lisa Hanisch is married and the mother of two. She was baptized a Methodist, but her family rarely attended church when she was a child. “We were taught that there was a God, and He heard our prayers and guided us,” Lisa says, “but there was little formal training.” When she was thirteen, for various [...]
The Very Best Birthday Gift
Diane Prefontaine, of Winnipeg, Canada, was not looking forward to her fiftieth birthday. It just seemed so…old, somehow. Her mom knew her feelings, and occasionally teased Diane about becoming a “senior citizen.” Diane’s teenage daughter was a bit more practical. “What would you like as a gift, Mom?” she asked. “Probably roses,” Diane responded. They [...]
Goodbye to Kate
It was late summer of 2001, and Eileen C’s adult daughter Kate was dying of cancer. She was very weak from her chemo treatments, and the family knew that her time to say goodbye was growing near. Like the others, Eileen was broken hearted. It seemed impossible that she would ever recover from the loss [...]
Garage Sale Guidance
Dale’s relationship with her mother was often strained. “I was strong headed at times,” Dale admits. “I kept to myself and didn’t share a lot with her about what was going on my life.” Even after Dale moved to another state and the two women set up a weekly Saturday night phone call, their exchange [...]
Cassandra’s Dream
When Cassandra Lockhart was a child, her grandmother Ruth probably had the most influence on her. “She taught me to pray, and was always there to support and guide me,” Cassandra recalls. But when she was sixteen, her beloved grandmother died. Cassandra was angry with God. Why had he taken her grandmother away, especially now [...]
Caregiver for Mom
Even though she is the president of Beyond Indigo, a website for people who are dealing with grief, loss and caregiving issues, Kelly Baltzell admits that no one is ever fully prepared for difficulties within one’s family. When her mother Karin awakened one morning shortly before Christmas, she discovered that she couldn’t walk. “She had [...]
An Otherwise Gray Day
Mary Olson (names changed) had a mild heart attack over the weekend, so her grown children and her sisters all arrived within hours at the local hospital, except for her daughter, Lisa. “Since Mom was expected to recover completely, I decided to wait until she was ready to leave, then drive down and help settle [...]
A Last Goodbye
Bill and his two sisters, Amy and Pat, were keeping vigil in Intensive Care at their dying father’s bedside. Bill went home to rest, and fell, exhausted, onto the couch. Suddenly, incredibly, his father stood in front of him–not the emaciated patient Bill had just left, but the virile man he remembered from his childhood. [...]
