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This is a great article that was in my September 2011 newsletter. I had great feedback on it so I’m posting it here for my blog readers to enjoy.
Article By Enid Stronach
Life can take us on a roller coaster ride full of highs and lows and twists and turns, especially when we have lost a loved one. We are all familiar with the expression “Life is never perfect!” On the contrary, as I was growing up, life WAS perfect and loss wasn’t something I had experienced. I was very aware of how fortunate I was, but who can ever be prepared for the unexpected.
Then the ‘unexpected’ happened. My husband died very suddenly of a heart attack. I came home and found him on the floor with our dog beside him. Five months later, my sixteen year old son collapsed and died at his hockey game. Unbeknownst to us, he had a congenital heart defect. His right coronary artery was in the wrong place. There had been no signs. He was a very healthy, normal teenager, who loved life and lived for sports; rep soccer, hockey and golf…life was busy and fun.
My son’s death was followed by my father-in-law’s death less than a month later…all three generations gone in six months. The day after my son’s funeral, I had the task of putting our family dog down. He was howling in grief. We weren’t coping and neither was the dog. I took the advice of our vet, who said “I think it’s time”. The boys had been carrying him up and down the stairs…he was thirteen and had arthritis. As if that wasn’t enough, it was unbelievable that my uncle died the same day as my son and my aunt died the same day as my father-in-law.
So many funerals to organize, and I could hardly put one foot in front of the other. My husband and I were both only children, so family was small. With time, persistence and focused thought, I published a book called Soldier On…Overcoming Grief by Living Through It. In it, I share my grief journey and the challenges I faced, knowing that I must participate in this most predictable human experience called grief. It was necessary in order to find peace and joy again in life.
My webpage is
www.soldieron-overcominggrief.com
Enid Stronach
