I Was Her Angel

11/21/2025

11/21/2025

Children’s Grief Awareness Day is a day for every child who knows what it means to lose a loved one.

It’s also for the adults who remember what childhood grief felt like, and how the ripple effects continue to show up throughout their lives.

Today we recognize all the girls who grew up without a mother. The boys who lost their fathers. The women whose dads weren’t there to walk them down the aisle. The men who named their first daughters after their moms.

And anyone who lost a sibling when they were young, often known as the “forgotten grievers.”

These experiences influence a person’s world view, choices, behaviors, relationships, parenting, self-image … everything, really.

If you were once this child, today recognizes that your early loss mattered, and still does.. ❤️‍🩹

children grief awareness • grief support for children • childhood trauma • supporting grieving children

11/20/2025

My mom died of Pancreatic cancer

On World Pancreatic Cancer Day, we uplift survivors and those living with the disease. 💜 If you’re raising awareness as a survivor, share below so we can celebrate you!

Together, we can spread awareness about the disease, celebrate progress and inspire hope.

11/20/2025

Next week is Thanksgiving, a holiday of football, questionable side dishes, and the annual debate over whether the turkey is moist or not. But for some of us, the idea of stuffing and cranberry sauce doesn’t bring comfort; it just underscores the empty chair at the table and the piece of our hearts that's missing.

Let's be honest: the only thing “stuffed” right now is our list of emotions.

While everyone else passes the gravy, We’re passing memories back and forth, hoping one still makes us smile instead of tear up. The truth is, the menu can be as traditional as a Norman Rockwell painting, yet there’s still nothing on it to fill the ache where our loved one should be sitting.

I know there’s advice out there, (I’m often the one giving it), light a candle, make their favorite dish, raise a toast. And yes, I’ve suggested setting out a plate just for them, but honestly, the idea that their portion of mashed potatoes might go uneaten feels rude. They’d probably never approve of wasting good food.

Maybe this Thanksgiving it’s really just about learning to accept the “happy-sad” moments.

Nobody wants to be the one who brings the sadness to Thanksgiving, right?

But if we’re making awkward jokes at the table about our dead person, we can only hope that people know we’re not just being cynical, we’re just trying our best to survive with whatever scraps of the memories we have left.

Because sometimes…what feels most present is the person who isn’t.

So if you’re like me, already bracing yourself for the moment when someone asks, “What are you thankful for this year?” remember: it’s okay to feel all of it. Maybe what you’re grateful for is surviving another year, even if you did it holding your broken heart together with duct tape.

Maybe it’s sharing one small memory of the person you miss, so their spirit shows up alongside the pumpkin pie.

However you patch your way through next week, this season isn’t a fix for grief, and you don’t have to fake being happy either. If you find yourself needing to pass on the stuffing but extra helpings of patience, that’s completely allowed.

So let’s make a toast to the missing, who’re still with us in every way we can find.

From my grieving heart to yours: even if Thanksgiving looks nothing like the commercials, we’re still at the table, together in our loss.

Gary Sturgis – Author Gary Sturgis

11/20/2025

The sea rises and falls with my sorrow
Waves echoing the ache you left behind
And I sit with flowers trembling in my hands
As your memory washes over me 🌊

A red bird flies across a heavy sky
Carrying a reminder of your presence
A whisper of hope in a world
That still feels dim without you 🕊️

I lose my breath thinking of that day
The one that shattered everything
A moment I return to unwillingly
Again and again and again 💔

The water beneath me sways with grief
Holding every unspoken word
Every goodbye I never got to say
Every piece of the life we lost 🌫️

Some days I stay afloat
Some days I sink into sorrow
But the love I carry for you
Keeps rising to the surface 🌙

So I hold the flowers tightly
I breathe through the ache
And I honor you in every heartbeat
That keeps going without you ❤️‍🩹

— Grief & You

11/19/2025

Always & Forever.

11/19/2025

Losses That Dont Just Hurt

There are losses that don’t just hurt — they rearrange you. Losing a mother is one of them.

People say time heals, but the truth is… you just learn to carry the weight differently. Some days it feels lighter. Some days it knocks the breath out of you all over again.

A mother leaves behind more than memories — she leaves behind the parts of us she helped build. And when she’s gone, we’re forced to figure out who we are without the person who taught us everything.

If you’ve lost your mom… what’s something you wish people understood about that kind of grief?

11/19/2025

11/19/2025

Grief Stories