“I watched him sketch out that second attempt and smile at it. He looked up and said, ‘How’s this one? I think this one is better, don’t you think?’ Maybe he was imagining it actually being tattooed on me and how that would feel, after he was gone.”
‘I didn’t realize how much I would miss my dad’s handwriting. I didn’t know handwriting could be part of the grieving process. Mourning handwriting? But I did. I still do.’: Daughter gets tattoo of dad’s handwriting before he passes of pancreatic cancer
‘It stopped my heart. I landed on a glass I was carrying, and a chunk of it punctured my jugular. A voice came to me and told me I was dying. Oh God, no! I didn’t want to die.’: Woman collapses after too much caffeine
“I suddenly felt nauseous. I was standing at the kitchen counter – and my next memory is opening my eyes, and I’m lying on something red. I felt shattered glass falling from my face. I ran my hand down my chin, where I felt something snag my finger.”
‘There is NOTHING right about this picture, but EVERYTHING is right about it. Because it’s the only Christmas picture I have.’
“I never understood the value in having them until I couldn’t have them anymore. I thought I had time. But I didn’t.”
‘There were 2 missing from our Thanksgiving celebration this year – our brother, who lost his battle to cancer, and our mom, who is still with us, but lost within herself.’: Woman navigates grief during the holidays
“I sat next to her and she looked at me. She said, ‘Who are you?’ We knew someday it would happen – Our time has come.”
‘I didn’t know then, as he held me in his arms, that less than 5 years from that night he would be dead.’
“I didn’t know this moment would be one of the few. When our babies fell asleep, and we’d have enough energy to dance in the kitchen, suds still on my hands from the dishes as he would pull me away from the sink when his favorite song would come on.”
‘He was her strength, her protector, her everything – until he wasn’t. Nothing, absolutely nothing, prepared us for the affect it would have on Dad.’
“He started calling at 4 a.m. He was extremely agitated. Panicked. He told us we have to come get him – NOW! The father we know and love is almost unrecognizable to either of us.”
‘His dying wish was to be home. I never got to thank him for drying my tears when I was broken inside as a victim of bullying.’
“It’s the things I no longer remember that hurt so deeply. What it feels like to wrap my arms around his neck to hug him. I no longer remember the feeling of joy he brought me. Loving him feels like a lifetime ago.”
‘The wildest part is the hallucinations. She thinks her reflection is another person, whom she has named ‘Sharon.’ She has always been ditzy and silly, so it was harder to catch the changes happening as time went on.’
“Usually ‘Sharon’ is a good friend, but sometimes she gets messy, so I have to take the bathroom mirror down. She will have bursts of anger, and has tried to run away. We had to get an alarm for her bedroom.”
‘Before the doctor came in he started telling us about drinking prune juice. He started laughing as he tells us he drank 3 glasses of it, and it worked. We started laughing – loudly.’
“I realized it was a sound we hadn’t heard for a very long time. For a moment, our world was normal.”
I leaned in and said, ‘Hi mom.’ She continued to stare, but not at me. I knew this was coming. She’s had dementia for 9 years. I kissed her forehead and said, ‘I love you.’ Still nothing.
“Her caregiver said, ‘Becky’s here.’ My mom looks around me and says, ‘Becky?!’ Then in my moment of joy, I realized she was looking for Becky. I was beside her, and she was looking past me in the hopes of seeing her Becky.”
