Along the Shore: Strategies for Living with Grief

Description

Grief is a devastating emotion, leaving its mark on each of us. We struggle with loneliness and exhaustion, unable to cope with our daily lives. Reflecting on the changes to our lives, we discover the courage and strength to move forward, often with the help of others. We develop methods to continue with our unique journeys through life.
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Along the Shore is a collection of personal and touching strategies by thirty-eight people dealing with their grief at the loss of a loved one. They share their insights, along with their sorrow and their hope, as they reach out to others who are also attempting to move forward. It is the authors’ wish that we can manage grief’s control while remembering and honoring those whom we have lost.

In the beginning, grief is almost a disbelief. You focus

only on moving through to the next step. Th e business

of planning keeps your mind or heart from dwelling

on the incomprehensible loss. Th e hardest time is the

after. When everyone has gone home, and the service is

complete, you’re left alone with your shattered heart and

your thoughts that are too loud for peace. This is the time

I found the hardest.

Finding ways to quiet the thoughts and hold the

shards of your broken heart becomes necessary.

Grief is a puzzling thing. One moment, you are

moving along in your life as though nothing has happened,

and the next you are swallowed whole. Sadness

washes over you like waves consuming the shore. Those

moments, the ones that come with no warning, those are

the hardest. It’s easy in the depth of this time to want to

turn inward, to shut everyone and everything out. How

could you be around those who are not also fractured

irreparably? It feels almost a betrayal to continue to live

when someone close to you passes. However, it is the

most necessary of things.

From "Embrace the Moments" by Tonya Spitler

Sujets

• Vie de famille
• Soutien psychologique et conseils familiaux
• Fracture familiale
• Death
• Grief
• General
• Self-help
• General officer
• Bereavement

Informations

• Publié par: Orange Blossom Publishing
• Date de parution: 11 juillet 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781949935820
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Table of Contents
On e More Day
In troduction
Grief, an Ocean: In Memory of Thomas Patr ick Reilly
Kath ryn Reilly
Discovering the Meaning of Grief Through Creative Expression
Al Dickenson
Healing Words: Writing thr ough Grief
Kathryn S adakierski
Strategies fo r Grieving
Pa rker Claus
The Hear t’s Garden
Daphne Ni kolopoulos
Crochet Thr ough Grief
Me gan Duncan
Embrace t he Moments
Ton ya Spitler
Voices in My Head
Cheryl Lynn West
A Goal a nd Control
Cheryl M. Dougherty
Practical Tips for Grief
Jessica N. Grissom
The Loss of a Brother
D an Carroll
Riding the Tidal Wav e of Grief
Jeaninne Esca llier Kato
Coping with the Loss of My Mother
Jor is Soeding
Grandpa
Christoph er Caudino
The Prodi gal Parent
Karen Peder sen Travis
The Explo rable Past
Amy Cook
Devotion
Kimberl y Thornton
Grief—Breath by Breath
Be cky Benson
T he Journal
M. J. Mandoki
Conversations Among Hydrangeas
Laura Eliza beth Pinto
I whisper back
A Lett er to Self
B ay Collyns
The Loss of My Mother
Samant ha Blakney
Writing for Peace
Dot tie Joslyn
Transforming Grief Thro ugh Nature
Nan ette Davis
N ew Orphans
Eil een Hector
Colori ng for Her
Poni Sayer
R eading the Experts, Writing My Story, & Expressing Grief in My Studio
Laure n McGovern
My Fore ver Bestie
Ke rry Evelyn
Grief and the Otherness
Crysty Skevington
Infinitesima l Play-Doh
Alys sa Moncure
When the “Un” B ecomes Fun
Tamara L eigh Young
Loss of a Spouse or Partner Changes the Dynami cs of Life
Ell en Fostoff
When I Get Knocked Down Again
Che lsea Fuchs
Not B eing There
Mylee Kh ristoforov
Love, I nterrupted
Shre ya Chauhan
Pocketful of Stones
Kalie A C hamberlain
Servi ng Slivers
Teres a TL Bruce
The Price of Loving
Jessica Dickenson





© ٢٠٢٣ Collection, Arielle Haughee
© ٢٠٢٣ Individual stories , Authors
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, in part, in any form, without the permission of the pu blisher.
Orange Blossom Pu blishing
Maitland, Florida
www.orangeblossomb ooks.com
info@orangeblossomb ooks.com
First Edition: J uly 2023
Formatted by: Aut umn Skye
Cover design: Arielle Haughee
Print ISBN: 978-1-949 935-81-3
eBook ISBN: 978-1-949 935-82-0
Printed in th e U.S.A.


Dedication
To my husb and, Frank


On e More Day
One more day, 
can I hav e one more 
to hold his hand, 
next to my heart?
On e more day 
to te ll my love 
he’s pa rt of me, 
my whole l ife long.
On e more day 
to remem ber much, 
his ge ntle smile 
and warm, str ong arms. 
One more day, 
not mu ch to ask.
But if I can’t have 
one more day, 
please, dear God, 
take c are of him 
unti l our days 
are joi ned again.


In troduction
T here is a parable I remember from my high school French class. A young mother is grieving the death of her young son. Devastated, she prays to God to return the boy to her arms. God agrees to do so, but only if the mother can find a house in the village where death has not claimed a family’s loved one.
The woman travels from home to home, telling of her mission and hoping this will be the house where her pain will be lifted. The villagers realize this cannot be, as no home is without grief. Rather than turn the woman away, they embrace her, and tell of the memories of their mothers, fathers, sons and daughters and spouses no longer with them. They know the torment the mother is experiencing and share their manner of dealin g with it.
At the end of the parable, the woman has spoken to all in the town. Her task finished, she prays again to God. She will continue to mourn her son, acknowledging that God could not grant her plea. Instead, He answered her with the comfort and support of her fellow townspeople. God had given her the ability to live by showing her through the empathy of others who had developed ways to deal w ith grief.
It has been over three years since my husband, Frank, died. We were married for twenty-eight years. I go on with my life, some days better than others. I can attest to the loneliness, that feeling of exhaustion at the end of the day, and the dread for the start of the next. It was through the love of family, friends, and yes, strangers who reached out that I am able to emerge as myself again. They spoke of how they managed to overcome grief, their strategies that made a d ifference.
The following memoirs share similar insights. Grief does not discriminate but places its mark on all of us. It is my hope that as you read these stories, you will feel the empathy reaching out to you from each author. Just as the young mother learned that while grief may exist, others by sharing their strategies help us to live outside of grief’s control. And with that power, we remember and honor those whom we have lost.
-Cheryl


Grief, an Ocean: In Memory of Thomas Patr ick Reilly
Kath ryn Reilly
G rief is an ocean: always there, calm or tumultuous, vast and deep. However, the more we stand before it, then bravely enter it, the more we begin to see its purpose. If we look into the ocean, we can see the beautiful, innumerable life it supports—such life are the memories of our l oved ones.
I’ve learned that grief exists perpetually, but its waves often change. New grief consumes us with the loss, the emptiness of space our loved one brightened; it brings darkness instead of light. Combatting this darkness required sharing memories of my loved one. I needed to ask others to listen to my stories because many people thought talking about his loss would make me sadder. Realizing I had a million moments to share, and hearing the moments of others, encouraged me to realize that his life was lived and valued. The more I spoke of my memories and allowed myself to remember in quiet moments alone, the more the darkness receded; my tumultuous ocean calmed. I began to feel the joy of the memories created together.
In the newness of loss, many triggers brought difficult emotional responses: favorite songs or menu items or books. Tears would cascade, and I wondered how people survived. For me, it was important to sit with that sadness and acknowledge it. Slowly, I understood grief marks the love you have for others. My tears testified to the many moments shared; grief is an important testament to the significance of others in our journey. Eventually, I listened to my loved one’s favorite songs with smiles instea d of sobs.
In the beginning, I wanted to keep everything. New grief correlated his things with him. They sat, for months, in boxes in the attic or garage because they weren’t items I’d wear or use.