The Grief Walk

1)Summer of 2002-mom's long hospital stay (6 weeks)

2)Dad's battle with cancer ended Jan. 20,2003

3)Mom had 2 hip replacements and several extended hospital stays from 2003 until 2005

4)SEPT.,2004 My husband's place of work went Bankrupt and left 400 people without work or severance packages.Also their pension had been underfunded and we couldn't even rely on that. This lasted for 16 months before the mill was bought by another company.My husband had worked there 34 years and could find only manual work.

5)Mom died of congestive heart failure twice. First time-June 6,2005. They revived her and she died after a difficult 2 days-June8,2005

6)My only sibling(4 years younger) died suddenly of a massive heart attack-Nov.7,2005.With his death his 2 daughters were left virtually without roots. Their mother was having emotional problems and spent several weeks in the hospital. The only other close relatives were myself and their mother's sister. She lived several hundred miles away. So naturally they became part of my family. Together we got through that first Christmas.

7) My youngest daughter's fiance was killed in an accident-Jan.31,2006

8) In March,2006 our oldest son was diagnosed with cancer in the leg-Osteosarcoma (The TERRY FOX kind) so the year was filled with chemo, transfusions, surgery, suffering!At his age this type of cancer is rare so went undetected nearly a year.

9)In September,2006 our youngest grandson was born with an open soft palate. Definitely not a tragedy but a complication.(He had successful surgery at 18 months in Halifax,NS)

10)December 26,2007 our son died just 3 days past his 34th Birthday.


Because these events have been ongoing with very little time between tragedies, I find I am afraid, thinking -What Next?
In another post I'll talk about the scriptures that gave me strength day by day.
God's faithfulness, peoples love and concern, friends that find ways to make you laugh, Family; these are the elements that are essential to emotional survival in difficult times.