Hello, dear readers,
I hope this weekend finds you well. Today’s newsletter has a theme, and not an all too cheery one, if I’m honest. It’s about grief and loss. Mostly because, well, that’s what I’m going through right now, having lost my angel of a rescue dog 3 days ago, because her cancer had progressed too far and so it was time, sadly, to let her go and say goodbye.
So below is a variety of articles on both Medium and Vocal about losses I’ve experienced over the past 6 years, how I felt about them at the time, what I’ve learned, and most recently, about the passing of our little Mexican rescue dog Penny who we only had for just over 2 years (we adopted her as a senior), but who brought us so much joy and love and happiness for the short time that she was a part of our lives.
With that said, grab some tissues and settle down to read what you’d like of these articles.
Click each photo to be taken to the article.
This was written as a reflection of how I have been changed after my mom passed away just over 6 years ago now, December 14th, 2015, at the age of 65 from alcoholism.
I wrote this just a week or so ago, reflecting on the upcoming death anniversary of my mom and also grieving for losing my dog Penny at some point in the near future (I just didn’t know how near, at the time of writing!)
As a script editor for Psych2Go, the YouTube channel, I have also written a few articles for them on their website. This is one of them (that will also be turned into one of their animated videos at some point in the future!), where I researched a few of the different kinds of grief that people can experience. There isn’t just one form of grief!
This was inspired by a question on social media I think back in the summer that asked something like: what should you say to people who are grieving. This article is my response to that - things you most definitely should NOT say, and that are not helpful. Sometimes less is more.
This is more thoughts about the experience of my mom’s death, along with the amazing ‘Physicist’s eulogy’, that as an atheist/agnostic person, I’ve found great comfort in. We are all just energy, but when we’re alive it’s all just more organized.
Lastly, this is a piece about losing our Penny that I wrote the day after losing her, as a letter to her, if she was still around, and could read it. It was my way of saying goodbye (on top of us physically saying goodbye at the animal hospital, where we were able to give her some treats and spend some time with her before the vets came in to do the end of life process.
That’s all for this week. I won’t say I hope you enjoyed these pieces, but I hope, if you read any (or all) of them, that you got something out of them, and that, if you’re grieving anything right now too, that maybe they were of some help and support.
Thanks for reading, until next time, take care!
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