Offering hope, comfort and support for survivors of suicide loss.
My husband, LJ, and I spent the day running both personal and volunteer-related errands in the Tri-Cities, about 30 minutes from our house. We stopped at Olive Garden for linner (lunch and dinner) around 2 PM. It was much busier than we expected with lots of families spending quality time together.
My eyes were drawn to a woman with her maybe three or four year old son across the room from us. They were sitting on the same side of the booth ...
I wrote this piece about 13 months after Tom died. It has been over four and a half years now since he passed. Although I no longer look for someone or something beyond his depression and anxiety on which to blame Tom's death, I still cringe when I hear people talk about suicide in stigmatizing ways. This piece reflects on how I finally framed and processed his death by ...
I was raised in the Unitarian Universalist Church which played a huge role in shaping me. In my formative years, I had the opportunity to explore many different religions and cultures and was encouraged to make my own decisions about my faith. I attribute my openness to and unconditional acceptance of a broad range of people and beliefs to the upbringing I received in this very inclusive church. I am grateful for the role the church played in who ...
The infamous, "Why?" Any survivor of a suicide loss knows how a word as simple as, "why" takes on more meaning in the aftermath of a suicide. The word can be consuming as you diligently work to uncover the reason "why" your loved one felt that life was too hard to go on. It's exhausting. You find a piece of the puzzle only to then realize how many more are missing. There is never a sense of accomplishment. Every answer seems to lead to a new ...
My grief for my son, Tom, goes in waves, and lately it has
felt like a tsunami. I am overwhelmed at the emptiness his absence creates. I
still yearn to hear, touch, and even smell him as my desire for connection has
not dissipated over the four years he has been gone. I have learned to
acknowledge and even savor these moments because Tom is a part of me, and I
have not and will not stop loving him just because he no longer walks visibly
beside ...
