Posts Tagged ‘Bereaved Parents’
Facing Grief Together
By: Ann-Marie Ferry In the days following Kuyper’s stillbirth I grieved visibly through tears and sobs. My husband, Jon, remained stoic, emotionally detached from the reality which we faced. We went on this way for several weeks following delivery. After a long day at work, he walked through our front door, outraged, talking about a…
Read MoreFaith in Fearful Times
By: Kayla Leibner In any given situation, moving forward can be a difficult task as everyday life presents us with struggles that have the potential to make us or break us – or both. However, as bereaved parents, we’ve all been faced with the most difficult and painful of struggles. These sufferings likewise have the…
Read MoreGrief, Hope, and YOGA
By: Brooke Taylor Duckworth Before my daughter died, I didn’t understand that grief was a physical sensation. I knew what it meant to “feel sad,” but I had never grieved like this before. This was a whole-body experience. This was a constant headache, chronic tension from clenching my teeth and tightening my jaw. My body…
Read MoreThanksgiving Onesies
By: Ann-Marie Ferry Brilliant sunbeams awaken my eyes. It is a beautiful May day and I have a mission. The night before I scoured the local papers and the internet for garage sale’s advertising baby cloths. Coffee and cash in hand I charge (waddle) out the front door and into my petite Ford Focus. My…
Read MoreKindred Strangers
By: Ann-Marie Ferry I never saw it coming. Tear soaked face. Thrown together carry-on. Royal blue, malodorous, Grey’s Anatomy scrubs. I must have been a sight that day. Sitting among strangers, waiting for the plane, I prayed, “Lord, I need an everyday miracle. Please sit me next to another Christian I can pray with during…
Read MoreYour Love Is Legendary
By: Ann-Marie Ferry Mother Bear first noticed the faint smell of smoke that morning as she wandered about her home of skyward reaching trees, brambles, berries, and trickling streams. She paid it no heed. Her two cubs wrestled about in the underbrush, ear gnawing, rollie pollies that would jump to a battling bear stance at…
Read MoreWhat Now?
Life after loss. You are not alone.
Read MoreThe Deep Roots of Legacy
By: Ann-Marie Ferry “Tough it out.” “Don’t cry.” Don’t be a girl.” We have been told for years that to show pain, or to speak of it, is weakness. We are the children of stoicism. The American roots run deep into this ancient philosophy. At the heart we know something is wrong with it but…
Read MoreMissing More Than Milestones
By: Kayla Leibner I often find myself wondering what life would be like if I wasn’t a bereaved mother. I wonder how different I would be if I wasn’t on this path. The truth is, this is my reality, and I’ll never again know life the way it was before this journey of grief began. …
Read MoreSailing
By: Ann-Marie Ferry Twenty-five feet of crystal-clear water rolled between the pier where I stood and the smooth, colorful boulders on the lake floor. I was enchanted by this simmering window into aquatic life, mesmerized, in my own world. “Ann-Marie, the line is moving,” a voice called out. My parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents,…
Read More