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To reiterate an exhausted and lackluster explanation, 5 years ago (January 29th), my dad died. The anniversary slumbers in the back of my consciousness, ready at any moment to sabotage a perfectly normal conversation. “Hey Caitlin, what movie should I watch?” “Kill Bill” “How’d you decide so quickly?” “It was the last movie I watched […]
Continue ReadingAmerica has be riveted by the podcast called “Serial,” a spinoff of the popular NPR series “This American Life.” Serial’s Season 1 is an investigation into the 1999 Murder of Hae Min Lee, an 18-year-old student at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore, Maryland. She was last seen about 3 p.m. on January 13, 1999. Her corpse was discovered […]
Continue ReadingI was going to call this “Grief is a Snowflake” until I discover there is an excellent book for grieving children called “Grief is Like a Snowflake” by Julia Cook and Anita DuFalla. I am convinced that grieving for a loved one is as unique as a snowflake. Two recent experiences I had reinforce this. […]
Continue ReadingThis poem arose from a conjunction of events—the recent death of my mother-in-law, the last surviving parent on either side of our family, and my driving for hours through a deep Canadian winter to offer a grief workshop in Brockville. The periodic bursts of long “O” sounds echoed for me the howling wind, and the […]
Continue Reading“I was so sorry to hear that your father died,” was probably one of the worst lines you could have said to me in 2010. I hated nothing more than other people’s pain in the months after my father passed. At best, it was an unpleasant reminder of what I was trying to put in […]
Continue ReadingTo those losing loved ones to Alzheimer’s, I did not notice subtle changes in my mother’s behavior because my focus was on my father’s loss of memory, poor decision making, and constant repetition. I was busy engaging my mother’s support to help dad. Dad and I were teaching mom how to write checks to pay […]
Continue Reading“You cannot die of grief, though it feels as if you can. A heart does not actually break, though sometimes your chest aches as if it is breaking. Grief dims with time. It is the way of things. There comes a day when you smile again, and you feel like a traitor. How dare […]
Continue ReadingAllen, Since Larry and Lisa created AfterTalk I finally feel I have a pathway to write to you even though you died 21 years ago. I realized that the only difference between writing a letter to someone who is dead vs someone who is alive is an expectation of being with that person in the […]
Continue ReadingEvery year on the second Sunday in December people all over the world will burn a candle in memory of there child whom left this Earth. Many candles will be lit and tears will be shed. This tradition was started in 1997 by the The Compassionate Friends. Dedicated to all children loved and lost, this […]
Continue ReadingExperts Discuss Children as Survivors of Suicide on Wednesday, January 7th 3pm EST on AfterTalk: LIVE On Wednesday, AfterTalk: LIVE presents the second part of a discussion of the impact of a parental suicide on children and how families can cope. The panel features Mandi Zucker, MSW, Grief Recovery Specialist and Program Director of Imagine: A […]
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