Grief and Loss Support

Older Americans are often faced with the loss of a friend or loved one.

Grief is a very individual process and no two people experience it in the same way. Therefore it follows that there is no right or wrong way to grieve. Instead of thinking of grief as a linear process, it is better to consider it a roller coaster of highs and lows where each high and low becomes less intense.

Grieving the loss of a loved one is a stressful, as well as debilitating, experience. For grief and loss support information and help click here .

For pet loss support click here

The poem below has been sent many times to people who have lost a friend or family member and most have found it to be comforting.  We hope you will find it comforting as well and perhaps pass it on when appropriate.

The Ship
I am standing upon the sea-shore.
A ship at my side spreads it white sails to the morning
breeze and starts for the blue ocean. It is an object
of beauty and strength, and I stand and watch it until
at length it hangs like a speck of white cloud just where
the sea and the sky come down to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says
"There! She's gone".
Gone where? Gone from my sight—that is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was
when she left my side and just as able to bear her load
of living freight to her place of destination.
Her diminished size is in me—not in her; and just at the
moment when someone at my side says
"There she's gone".
There are other eyes watching and other voices ready to
take up the glad shout.
"There she comes!"