While the holiday season is a time of joy, it also dredges up feelings of sadness for many of us who are coping with the loss of a loved one.
No matter how great the holidays are, for me they serve as a painful reminder of my mom’s permanent absence. Dealing with my mom’s death from multiple myeloma, a rather horrible cancer, has been a long painful journey for the past few years. There are simply no shortcuts when it comes to grief.
My bracelet says “You are not alone” and was given to me by my mom when her cancer came back. I wear it a lot especially when I feel sad without her around the holidays. For anyone who also feels a little sad come holiday time, or that the holidays just feel different without a certain someone there, I wanted to say that you’re NOT alone and know that these loved ones are always with us. And if you do feel lonely reach out to me, I have a very lovable French bulldog who would be happy to shower you with attention.
I also wrote an article on grief that may be helpful to those of you coping with a similar situation.