It’s Anzac Day and today, like all Australians, I woke to the sound of a march somewhere. We hear the bugle call of the Last Post early at my place, as it wafts up from a local park and then the sonic boom of the flypast plays with our ears … Read more
Welcome to Good Grief! 2022. In following posts we’ll detail exciting developments for Good Grief! this year. But before that, a tribute to my dear old Dad, Kenneth Parnell Rice, who died on December 22, 2021, aged 97. What a wonderful man he was. His Christmas holiday-time death gave an … Read more
Dear reader, It’s Christmas Day and my father died on Wednesday. It was not unexpected but the enormity of it is so vast I haven’t yet reached the other side. I have tried several times to write something for you about it. I think this is important because the purpose … Read more
Sometimes there’s an overlap between Good Grief! and the other newspaper articles I write and today’s story published in The Daily Telegraph, Mosman Daily, North Shore Times and The Wentworth Courier is a good example. Behind every dying person there’s usually at least one dedicated carer – often a whole … Read more
Today we’d simply like to share a lovely, very real story from by our LinkedIn connection Christine Pedley who lives at Ferntree Gully, Victoria. Christine has been an authorised marriage celebrant for 11 years. She “co-creates ceremonies that are always bespoke. I assist and offer guidance in conducting any celebration … Read more
It’s a pretty simple proposition. ‘Believe your eyes”, the prosecutor tells the jury of the 9 ½ minute video of George Floyd being killed by policeman Derek Chauvin. Often we’re encouraged to doubt what we see on film and video – because clips can be doctored. But not in this … Read more
Today a nod to all the mothers who have gone, because it’s my mother’s birthday. These days I don’t miss her but I feel her presence very strongly. The connection is more revealed. I feel her older woman’s body when I’m on my walk and my muscles ache or when … Read more
A conversation with friends took me to a well the other day. We were walking in the Sydney sunshine along Bungaree’s Walkway at Middle Head, a natural pathway with extraordinary views around Sydney’s majestic harbour, when the conversation, idling unselfconsciously as they do, turned to grief. I was asked about my … Read more
Jill Emberson’s crusade for better funding for Ovarian Cancer continues. See the article about Jill’s campaign and legacy: When Pink Meets Teal, by Genevieve Gannon, P 60, in the Australian Women’s Weekly issue, February. To support Pink Meets Teal, go to: https://pinkmeetsteal.com/ To sign a petition for equity in Ovarian … Read more
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. … Read more
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 … Read more
Pauline looked as though she was just doing the ordinary things: just getting on with it because, as she said, you’ve got no choice. But she was being absolutely extraordinary.
Gavin worked in the music industry for a long time – so music has a special significance to him – and he knew it did for his mother-in-law Dorothy, who as a young woman had strong connections with the theatre. But unfortunately, the family didn’t get the chance to talk … Read more
by Katherine Delaney That the captain was a woman with the first name of Rowena. That the mother behind me exhorting up, up, up in a high voice to her young child sounded like she was trying to re-assure herself. That I comforted myself by knowing that the fact that … Read more
When my friend Susan’s mother Jean was cremated at Leura Memorial Gardens in Autumn this year, her family used lots of flowers and foliage from her garden in the Blue Mountains of NSW to adorn her coffin. It was a way of expressing something about Jean, who’d always loved the … Read more