“How could you forget?” he asks, looking at me incredulously. “Really? Again?” He’s right. How could I forget? But then, these days, I forget a lot of things. “I’m sorry,” I say. His irritation hurts me, as does my own frustration at not remembering the simplest of things. I seem to live in a perpetual […]
A Conflict Of Interests: An Open Letter To Dr. Pies
Dear Dr. Pies, Whilst I appreciate your courteous reply to my article “I’m Not Sick, I’m Grieving — The Day Grief Was Medicalized” published August 22nd, 2019, I do take issue with a number of the points you make. I also note, without meaning to sound churlish, that you failed to apologize for your “very […]
I’m Not Sick, I’m Grieving — The Day Grief Was Medicalized
When someone we love dies, it hits us hard. When it’s our child, it annihilates us. It’s not surprising then, that traumatic grief makes us feel we’re going crazy. Often, and understandably, we turn to medical professionals for help. When my son was killed, I didn’t know how to manage my suffering. Two months post-loss, […]
Words That Heal
Initially, the words that helped me to survive the first couple of years were those written by others who’d walked this path before me. I devoured articles and books on loss, desperate to find connection and the elusive feeling of being less alone. Amazon became my ‘go to’ place; books arrived and were placed on […]
Finding Sanity In The Midst Of The Madness Of Loss
Putting my story and my son’s life into context was important to me after Alex was killed. The grief was overwhelming. I was so deeply lost in the horror of what had happened and the terrifying thought of the rest of my life without him, that I yearned for something, anything, that would help me […]
The Reflection In The Mirror
I recently read an article by a child-loss mother who wrote of how she no longer recognized herself in the mirror. Her achingly beautiful words stopped me in my tracks, and I was transported back to the days of early grief when the agony of losing my son was so great that it felt as […]