This issue may seem odd to some – but to others it’s very important. In Australia the final resting place has deep significance for Aboriginal people. But I knew a non-Indigenous woman who was troubled by not knowing where she would be buried. In fact, she became peaceful as she faced death only once she […]
death
My Deer, Phoenix Park.
That’s a full stop – a red stop sign with angled corners and a white line around it. Resting here, my knees have buckled, in front of that sign you planted in my path. I have walked this space so confidently, happy to share what I know, to muck in. Sleeves rolled up, information exchanged, […]
Play School helps with stories about beginnings and endings.
This morning Play School did something very special. It had an episode about new life and end of life. Emma, one of the presenters explained to an earlier television news audience that the team sought the guidance of experts on managing grief in children. Children deal with death in a very concrete way. Euphemisms confuse […]
When the grief of a child is denied.
Sadly, until recently children were often excluded from funerals, something we recognise today as harmful. Christine was only seven when her father died and she will never forget it. But one emotion that loomed large for a long time after was anger – not because Fred had died but because his death was kept a […]
A Mexican Cross to remember Chris
Today a Mexican Cross to remember Chris by, because later this morning, Sydney time, his family who are dear to my heart will bury him. They are a large Catholic family just like the one I grew up in and now he, one of the six siblings, is gone. If anything like our family – […]