Blog Archives - Page 4 of 8

Say their name

Sep

13

2013

Here is another example of bereaved parents who took action to address a situation that many of us seem to have experienced after losing a child: a society that cannot deal with death of children, even less so support bereaved parents. I have watched a lot of similar videos, read many blog posts and meet ...

It is time to have The Conversation

Aug

31

2013

Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) runs a blog with the name “Up For Discussion” and they recently published an article by their CEO Dr. David Ostrow titled “It is time to have The Conversation” about end of life care. I applaud them for starting discussions about very complex and difficult topics that touch on ethical, legal ...

How are you doing? 2

Aug

20

2013

This post sat in my drafts for a long time. I was struggling to complete it because I did not really know where to go with it. Then I came across another blog post by Sarah and it suddenly made sense to me because she described it so beautifully. Here is how I started. How ...

The whole story 2

Jul

20

2013

Working in a hospital often puts things into perspective for me especially since our boys died. I don’t work with patients directly but walk through the hospital often enough to see a lot of patients. Like the women this morning with the bald head who was so thin and frail that she barely could walk. ...

Tainted Happiness 4

May

29

2013

A common belief is that grief and bereavement kill all happiness. People who go through tragedy simply cannot be happy, right? I think that might be true for the darkest time after tragedy. I don’t want to put a length on this timeframe because this might feel different for everyone. This is a time when ...

The platitude dilemma 2

May

26

2013

We were recently reminded of what it means to be struck by tragedy and how important the support from others can be. Whenever something terrible happens, some people seem to be lost for words though. “What to do? What to say?” comes up. Frankly, I don’t know. I don’t have a recipe. I don’t have ...

Return to Zero – Hopes and Fears 4

May

25

2013

Ever since we started this blog I have been following the many great initiatives that are happening right now to bring attention to the topic of losing a child, in particular stillbirth. It seems like all pieces are coming together to really make a difference. Many people who have lost a child seem to have ...

Mother’s Day

May

12

2013

For the past hour I have tried to write a post about Mother’s Day. I have started and deleted my words. I considered writing about the commercialization of the event and the loss of the true meaning, about why the day might unintentiously feel exclusive to a lot of women, about the origins of the ...

Flowers for the boys 2

Apr

14

2013

We had a small celebration of life for Tobias yesterday at the sailing club. Our friends came together to remember Tobias with us and it was a beautiful ceremony that was very emotional for us. But from our experience with Marlon we know that it is a very important step in the grief journey. I ...

Death cannot be denied and grief is not an illness 1

Apr

13

2013

After other parents recommended the book “The year of magical thinking” by Joan Didion, I got it from the library and started reading it. Some of her insights are really fascinating to read. Today I came across this passage. Joan is quoting from Emily Post’s 1922 book of etiquette, Chapter XXIV, Funerals: “Persons under the ...