Unimaginable Grief Unexpected Blessings

Yesterday I had the opportunity to see the movie “Love Happens”. I had known from previous trailers that this movie was about a man suffering grief from the loss of his wife. Realizing that watching a movie like this at this time of year may have not been one of my better ideas I went anyway. What I didn’t understand that there was a lesson I would walk away with.

In the movie this man has written a book about his experience after losing his wife suddenly in a car accident. During a large part of the movie he is out on the book circuit promoting his book and providing seminars for those attending who are going through the grieving process. For those of you who know me well, know that I too am writing a book. Although I don’t have a PhD, I am an RN which means I have seen a lot of grief. I have seen it also first hand in myown life. I don’t have any intention on doing seminars or going out on a book circuit, but I do think that going out and talking to people about grief is in my future.

Without spoiling the ending for anyone, I will just say that I would encourage anyone to see this movie who has been involved with a person who is grieving. Because I believe it will serve as a means for you to understand that everyone grieves differently and at different levels. So often we tend to have a preconceived idea of how someone should grieve. I think that most of that misconception comes from what will make us feel better because grief is uncomfortable. It’s not fun and it certainly is a process most want to avoid no matter what the circumstances are.

I know from my own experiences it’s a two-sided story. From one aspect it’s a personal journey that evolves. Death brings us to places where we find it uncomfortable. It makes us uneasy. It makes us look at our own mortality. It makes us face our own beliefs in the unknown. It makes us question why. And if you are a believer – you may even question God.

I know I have and still do question God as to why I lost my mother while being 7 months pregnant with Brittany. Losing my grandmother 5 years later. And then the worst loss of all, the sudden death of my 17-year-old daughter Brittany. I can’t possibly begin to tell you that God has answered my questions. He has not. But what He has provided is along my journey some very special people who I would have never met, who I would have never known the largeness of their hearts and their generosity and love for me and for God.

What I also know is that there are things I have yet to deal with. In the movie it becomes clear that this man is living two lives. The life of a griever that is public, the one we all want you to see. And then the life of a griever that is private. The one we don’t want you to see. The one that makes us vulnerable. It makes us retreat from public life because we don’t want anyone to know how we truly feel.

Over the next week I’m going to tell you my private thoughts on my own experience and what I learned in watching this movie. I do it not because it will help me, I know it will. But because I hope that someone somewhere will read it and have moment where they realize that this monster called grief must be faced full on and without fear. Because it can consume you and it can take away your life. As it has mine over the past 3 years. My story may take you places you have never been and may never want to go. But I can tell you that once you hear it, it may encourage you to know that someday what you learn may help you to help someone else.

And that is why I write.

Until next time

m

As the 3rd anniversary date of my daughter’s death looms, the thoughts of her have been flooding in faster and at unexpected times. You know the little things are the ones that seem to have the most profound affect on me. Passing conversations with friends about something totally unrelated to Brittany, but whatever it was in the conversation triggers some memory of something she said or did – and it would make me smile.

Then I would have to fight off the bad place. The place where the smile turns to a lump in my throat that helps to fight back the tears. Those tears come sometimes at the most inconvient time. Tonight while at dinner with a friend we were making small talk and being funny. Then something he said made me think of something Brittany used to say whenever she wanted to make me laugh – “chicken butt”.

I’m laughing now. She always was the one who could make me laugh, even when I was feeling down. We’d be driving around and I would have my silent self on and out of the blue she’d say “chicken butt” and we’d burst out laughing.  I miss that more than I can even begin to express. She made my world a better place. She was my world.

I’m so grateful to have those memories and I’m very blessed that I can write about them in order to preserve them in written form so that her memory will not be forgotten. I know I will never forget. But I also know that as time continues to pass on – so shall my memory of her. I know that because it’s been 21 years since my mother died and I struggle to remember her.

Memories of my mom seem so far away – a lifetime away. I have some photos and sometimes a memory comes to mind – but it’s like a dream that I’m dreaming and it is as if I’m staring into someone’s life – just not mine. That’s how I feel about losing Brittany – like it was a lifetime ago – someone’s life – just not mine. But then I look at her pictures and the painful memories come back into my mind and remind me of the profound loss in my life. A loss so painful that only God knows my pain.  But He also brings me joy. He heals my broken heart.

I think my life has gotten so busy that I haven’t had a whole lot of time to think much about her. I also believe that some of that is on purpose. It’s an easy escape. Staying busy. Volunteering for this and that.  I fear slowing down to get quiet because I begin to think about her and there are times that it still makes me sad. And that’s ok. I also have times where when I think about her I laugh. Like tonight.

Those little things are the things that we so often take for granted. The things that we don’t give much thought to on an everyday basis. But my friends those little things are the very things that keep our loved ones alive in our hearts and minds. They are the things you need to stop and pay attention to and be grateful for. Because they could be gone tomorrow.

Slow down, get quiet and let the memories flow, no matter where the journey takes you – let it come, let it flow. Meditate on what’s important.  Take time to thank God for what you have and what you had. Everyone in our lives is a gift from God. Those gifts are to be cherished and nurtured. For they are only with us for such a short time. Some far shorter than feels right.

Until next time

m

I read a story in my Women’s Meditation book today that made me think. It was a comment in the article that really made me stop and pause, thinking wow could I be doing this.

The article was about seeing the difference in doing God’s will verses enduring God’s will. When the Lord said “Thy will be done.” He meant that He would get up and do whatever it took to carry out God’s will. He just didn’t lie down and endure it. He carried on. He persevered. He finished the fight.

Then I thought about how I related to this passage and at times have felt that in Brittany’s death I have had to endure the grieving process. That it was God’s will that it was her time to leave this earth. That it was my time to endure the pain and emptiness that has been left in the wake of her death.

But after analysis of this passage, I now have the realization that it not God’s will that I endure anything. Jesus never said that suffering was from God or that it would be God’s will for us to suffer. Only that His will is to be done.

At some point early in my grief journey I became closer to God. A closeness that I had never experienced at any other time in my life.  I reached out so often to God because I felt there was no other place to turn. I wanted to feel like I had a purpose. I had so many questions. I still do.

I talked to God like He was sitting right in front of me. As if we’d been friends all my life. In fact, we had, I just didn’t see Him before.  Some of my questions were answered by unexpected sources. Some of my questions remain unanswered. But I do now understand that I am not to endure this grief journey.

I am to live it out loud and with a mission. A mission that speaks to the need to have God in your life. To build a strong foundation in God’s word. To have faith that is unmeasurable and strong enough to get through the toughest of life’s struggles – loss.

Whatever you feel God’s will is for you – I believe it is to be done. Activate your faith by walking along side God. Educating yourself on God’s word so that it becomes a part of your soul. That is how God’s will get’s done and not endured.

Enduring life doesn’t sound very appealing to me. But doing life – I think I can handle that one.

Until next time,

M

Today I was having a conversation with a good friend and out of that conversation came the topic of this blog – The need we have to always figure out the “Why” of life. I’m sure I’ve written about this topic before, but I believe we can always use a healthy dose of remembering a very important life lesson. The reason we are here and why it is important to stop figuring out why you are here and just do it.

A few years ago I found myself questioning why I was here. Here in my hometown, here at this time in my life or even here on earth. One day I must have been feeling very misplaced and I mentioned to someone that I wasn’t sure it had been a good idea to move back to my hometown. And she said to me “You are here because you are suppose to be here, to be my friend, to be my co-worker – it is where God wants you now”. That statement struck me so profoundly because since Brittany’s death, or really my whole life, always trying to figure things out. Questioning the “why” in my life. And in the process missing the point. It’s not important to know why, to know God’s plan, it’s more important to know that there is a plan and just have faith.

I know that can be hard for some people. It’s very hard for me. I’ve always been the person in charge, the go to person. So it can be a difficult transition in life to just believe that for whatever reason we are placed here on earth that we are to live it out in full faith. Faith that is unseen and can only be revealed in how you live your life. Knowing that God’s plan is so much bigger than anything we can possibly dream up on our own.

The other side to this is that when my friend said what she did, it also struck me that people come in and out of your life for many reasons.  Sometimes it’s not always for good reason, but we hopefully learn from the experience and keep moving forward.

I learned from my daughter’s death who my real friends were. Some were not who I thought they were and other friends came into my life that I never imagined I would be friends with. Those people are the ones who stood by me at a time in my life that they could have easily walked away. As some did.  But some didn’t. They are still my friends today. Yet distance proves to be a modifier in this equation because we don’t see each other as often. But I know that at even given time I can call them and leave it all on the table and they’ll still be my friend in the end.

Those are the kind of people you need to have in your life. People who stretch you and make you a better person. Who believe in who you are without question. The comings and goings of our friendship remain strong through the tests of life. Don’t question when special people come into your life. Don’t try and figure out why or how could it be possible. Remember God brings people into your life to teach you something.

I also realize that there are some not very good people who come into our lives and we let them in ignoring the voice in our heart and head (which is God) because we think we know the plan. WE don’t! Listen to your heart and get still enough to hear God – you’ll know who those people are you need to have close to you and the one’s you need to send on their way. Keep people around you keep you accountable. People who come along side of you and compliment who you are and make you a better person.

God can work so many great things in your life if you just give Him the reigns and stop trying to figure out what He is doing.

This blog topic is dedicated to my special friends on Twitter and my dearest and to my closest friends in life. Peace and love to you all.

until next time

m

In watching the coverage of Sen. Ted Kennedy’s Celebration of Life I came to a realization that this type of loss stays with you for the rest of your life. Watching the coverage took me back to Brittany’s Celebration of Life. We called it that instead of a funeral because we did want to celebrate the life of our only child. The light of our life. The reason God put us on the earth. To create a child of God and lover of life and a heart that was a big as you could imagine.

Celebrating ones’ life after they have passed on is a special time. It gives the loved ones’ who are left to pick up their lives and move on a way to hear stories that they may have not known about or have long forgotten about their special person. I remember hearing stories about Brittany that I didn’t know. Stories shared by her friends. Stories that made me a proud mother. I raised one hell of a girl.

In hearing Sen. Kennedy’s family and friends get up a speak of special stories that touched their lives, I think that Vicky, his wife, and his children and extended family will be blessed for the rest of their days. Those stories are the things that bring you peace and a sense of calm in the stormy days ahead when dealing with grief.

Grief comes back always. It never leaves you for very long. It lurks waiting for opportune moments to take you back to a time you would otherwise not want to go. But go you must. It stretches you in ways you can’t imagine. No one believes they can survive a loss such as a child; but I’m here as living proof that you can survive. In fact, you can move forward in your life.

Now I’m not saying that in a second, I’d take it all back to have her back in my life. But I also realize that things have happened for a reason. A reason that has yet to be revealed to me. But one that I accept and one that I realize I have to hold onto. There is a future for me somewhere, somehow and I am holding on for dear life until it happens.

A message for you today is that do not wait until some one you love passes to celebrate their life. Take the time to celebrate those special people today. Let them know that your life has been and will continue tobe blessed by their coming into your life. Make sure they know you realize they are a gift from God. A blessing. Because one day, one minute, one second – it could all be gone.

I challenge you today to go out and hug your child, your spouse, your parents, or siblings and say “I love you” and I am so thankful you are in my life. Don’t let grievances and bad blood come between you and your family or you and your friends. Keep the peace. Love everyone – resist your own selfish nature to have it all be about you. Because it is not about you – it is about God – the space you’ve been given is a gift to exist on this earth. Use it wisely.

until next time – Celebrate Life today!

m

Over the past few weeks I’ve been talking to friends about how much I miss cuddling with someone. It’s something I like to do and did it alot with my daughter when she was alive.

We would watch a movie or TV show on the couch and cuddle and laugh. It was the some of the best times in our lives. There were also the bad, with her illness and all that came with taking care of a chronically ill child. But that’s a whole other post.

Today I want to tell you how, I believe, our loved ones come to us in dreams. I think that since I have been focusing on the need for closeness with someone that Brittany has been sensing that. Of course, through the eyes of God. I have read in several books that people who have died come and visit us in our dreams as a means to comfort us. I know this has happened to me with Brittany 3 times. This morning was the 3rd time.

It is usually very quick and to the point. And it is always what I need. I must have hit the snooze button 4 times and then eventually turned off the alarm. This type of behavior is so unlike me. But of course, it was for a reason. A reason that would make me smile and then fall apart and make my heart just ache with the reality of her absence.

I was standing in a room and she came running in, looking like should would if she was alive today. Her hair up in a pony tail, wet, wearing a pair of shorts and shirt I said in the dream she had worn to bed. She was rushing around getting ready to go somewhere.  I said to her “what’s going on” and she replied “I’m late mom, I have to go”, as she began to run out, I said “wait, don’t I get a hug?” and she came and gave me the biggest hug. And then I woke up.

I got up immediately and began to get ready for work. But the memory of that dream began to creep back into my mind. Then the flood came. The grief washed over me like a watershed. I was overcome by the loss of my girl and the emptiness that prevails in my life. You see the loss is more than the death. It is the emptiness, the whole in my heart, the void of love, the constant reminders that I not only lost my daughter, but the life I knew and loved.

Memories are such a wonderful things for us grievers. It’s all we have left. Some days those memories are enough to sustain us and some days they are not. Memories can also be the means to bring us to the brink of madness. The reminder of a life in the past, one that we no longer have, yet miss terribly. They also remind us of the life we have now and the importance to move forward. To keep the memories positive and to keep their memories alive in an honorable way.

I miss my daughter more than I could ever say in words. But I would never want those dreams to stop. Even as painful as they are – it’s all I have left.

Until next time

m

******* Warning – Difficult and Provoking Material ***********

This post will be sweet and to the point. People continue to amaze me at the level of misunderstanding and just pain ignorance on how to see thru the eyes of a grieving parent. I won’t go into details and I have belabored the point long enough. If the point has not gotten through so far – I doubt it ever will.

I hope with all my heart that no one has to go through this pain that invades my heart on every level of every minute of every day. I spend an incredible amount of time pretending for you. I’m done with it. I’m done pretending for the very people who could give a shit about what my life is like on a daily basis.

You all move through your lives pretending a life altering event can’t possibly happen to you. But I’m here as living experience that shit happens and it happens to me more often than I care to admit. I’m very tired of playing the “pretend to be happy” role for everyone’s else comfort. My life sucks plain and simple.

When I say my life sucks I am referring to life without my daughter. I have much to be grateful for and I am. I have some of the best friends a person can have. My friends in Michigan – you continue to amaze me by your generosity and thoughtfulness -even though I have been gone for 2-1/2 years. You still think of me and make me feel that I matter.

As much as I try to cover it all up with mindless activities – at the end of the day – I live alone with my pain. the most recent event was my birthday. It went pretty much unnoticed; well except for my good friends on Twitter that I’ve never met. Funny how they were the one’s I heard from first. Whose cards arrived before the others. To top it all off the only gift I received was from a dear friend in Michigan who I has consistently been there for me on every holiday, even St. Patty’s Day. Little does she  realize that it is those little gestures she makes by sending me the cutest packages several times a year mean more to mean that words can express. Why, because it shows she cares. She goes out a painstakingly picks out gifts she thinks I would love. Sometimes little does she know it’s the only gift I get on some holidays!

It’s not about the gift truly people, it’s about the time she takes. The investment in me and the love she extends to me. Even better is that she does it all because God leads her to be that type of person – a person of character.

Incredible that the show of love I get is from my long distance friends, most of which I haven’t met. I feel so very insignificant in my family life. Like I could be gone tomorrow and they’d never blink an eye. It’s the saddest and most disappointing love in my life. Ranks right up there with all the abuse, loss, grief and just plain smashed up life crap that has been consistently traveling my way since I was little.

I have always been know for my incredible resilience – but my friends the time is now and I am running on empty. I have to find a way to fill up my heart – a new way – maybe it’s with helping out with the youth group at church. Because now I know for sure – my life is not what it was and never will be. It’s a different life now and I can no longer hold on to the past – whoever and whatever that means.

Not much longer do I see myself continuing to fight a losing battle. Something good has got to happen and it has to happen soon.

I apologize for those of you who don’t know how to take this, but I do hope you never have to find out.

until next time

malissa

Over the past couple of years since Brittany’s death I have often wondered what my new purpose in life would be. How it might manifest itself. I have looked at many things to take up the time so to speak in my life. That way I don’t think so much about Brittany. That was my way of coping I guess. But now some distance has occured and I am now believing God wants me to move onward to a new place.

Not in a physical sense, but in a spiritual sense. A place where I can feel a sense of acceptance and a belief that I matter in this world. You see before Brittany died there was no doubt in my mind that I mattered. I had an obligation as a parent to nurture and love my daughter into a bright and successful woman and child of God.

That leads me to now and what has been going through my mind. It seems as though every Sunday as I walk past the kiosk at church where the student ministries try and recruit volunteers I would feel this “pull” to walk over and find out more. I know that that “pull” is God. So first I ignored that “pull” because I couldn’t possibly think that I had anything left to give. But God being God, began to nudge me a little harder, until one day I felt as if I “had” to go over and find out more.

So I did and then I did the usual – I put it off. I think for the most part because of fear of the unknown. Not wanting to fail. Thoughts invaded my mind that I might not live up to what ever God wanted me to do in this area. It was about a couple of months later that I began to feel that “pull” again.

I talked with a church friend and she thought I’d fit in better with the college age group. That because she saw me as a “strong woman of faith” that I would have more to offer this age group. So again, I let more time pass until I could no longer avoid God’s nudging. So yes, I signed up to help out with the group at our church called Access. They are a group of college age kids who are not really kids anymore, but are still needing the guidance of adults in the church.

So tomorrow I start my new role “my new thing” and I have mixed emotions about it. That’s what I do. This uncomfortable feeling I now get when I’m around people. Never had that before Brittany died. Always such the outgoing personality and social butterfly. So this volunteer project is a real stretch for me. One that I take very seriously and passionately.

I can say I am truly excited to get started and look forward to what God is going to do this fall as I begin this new thing called moving forward.

until next time

m