tributes to special people

On mothers – and what we appreciate when they’re gone.

This article was updated on March 30, 2023. It discusses ageing and motherhood. Today a nod to all the mothers who have gone. My mother died in 2011. These days I don’t miss her as much but I feel her presence very strongly. The connection is more revealed. I feel … Read more

Dipping into the well

This article was updated on 24 March, 2023. It discusses the death of my dear brother Julian in a motorbike accident. 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 … Read more

Christine Pedley reflects on a final farewell and ‘doing death well’.

Christine Pedley

This article was updated on March 9, 2023. It discusses a final farewell. Today we’d simply like to share a lovely, very real story 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 … Read more

My father died on Wednesday.

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

Priceless work of our local carers.

Tania Teague with her mother Anita Teague - photo John Appleyard, Daily Telegraph

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

Believe your eyes

Believe your eyes - a still from Darnella Frazier's video

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

Jill Emberson’s legacy – Pink Meets Teal.

Jill Emberson's Pink Meets Teal legacy features in the Australian Womens Weekly, February issue

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

My Deer, Phoenix Park.

Phoenix Park, Ireland, pic courtesy National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, Ireland.

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

A Mexican Cross to remember Chris

A Mexican Cross to remember Chris by, made better for its imperfections, as he is buried today.

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

Farewell to Pauline Helen Hensley

Pauline Helen Hensley

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.

Farewelling Dot with music

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

Things that I might forget on the first flight after my mother’s death

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

Flowers for Jean

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