Helping Your Family

When my husband died suddenly, in addition to my own shock and grief, the family aspect stunned me. We had been so happy together. We had defined ourselves in part by our family identity. We were the Jedd family. ...Who were we now?

Suddenly I was a single mother with two vulnerable young children. What now?

I had a thousand questions: How can I help my children understand what has happened to us when I don't really understand it myself? And even when I've figured out how to function day to day, how can I make things right again?

How can I preserve the feeling of family now that Daddy isn't here? What happens to the hopes, the dreams, the family identity and everything we cherished?

As parents, we feel a strong sense of urgency to help our children. Somehow, at the same time, we have to deal with our own pain. How can we accomplish this seemingly impossible thing?

Recovering from Trauma, Dealing with Grief

On this journey, my children and I have had to constantly redefine who we are individually and who we are as a family. We will never be the same. We will never get "back on track".

We are on a completely new track now. And it's not "the wrong track". (When did it finally stop feeling like that to me?) It's just a new track, a different track. Life is full of them.

The articles linked below hint at some of the answers I've found so far. They've unfolded over time, as yours will.

You, too, will somehow find your way through the shock, confusion and sadness that are part of the process. You will find that you are on a new track and that, along with the loss, there is also a creative element as a new life emerges.

Keeping Family Like Family
Family Culture and the Grief Process
Grieving With My Children