by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
His body was found in his favourite chair, facing the TV that was still on (most likely, watching hockey). He’d been a lifelong Toronto Maple Leafs fan despite the team’s disappointing inability to win the Stanley Cup each year since 1967; even his obituary included his long-suffering lament:
“When I die, I want the Leafs to be my pallbearers, so they can let me down one last time.” .
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
In response to last week’s blog post about cortisol (which featured Dr. Doreen Rabi’s surprising explanation of how this stress hormone rises among heart attack patients AFTER hospital discharge), Jan Oldenburg sent me a note. Her note simply said:
” I’m guessing our children’s stress levels were higher, too. My husband Jon was only 46 at the time of his heart attack.” . . . Continue reading “How kids cope when a parent has a heart attack”
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
As Christopher Buckley wrote in his memoir, Losing Mum and Pup, when the last of your parents dies, you are an orphan. This is poignantly true if that parent is your mother.
“You lose the true keeper of your memories, your triumphs, your losses. Your mother is a scrapbook for all your enthusiasms. She is the one who validates and the one who shames, and when she’s gone, you are alone in a terrible way.” .
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
I’ve heard it said that some people experience a loss of appetite during stressful times like a death in the family. These people are not my relatives. Indeed, in our Ukrainian family tradition, we eat when we’re happy, we eat when we’re upset, and we eat during all possible emotions in between.
Every family gathering surrounding my mother’s death was no exception.
For example, the delicious lunch following her funeral service was a true labour of love prepared by the women of my mother’s church, just as the women of churches, mosques, temples, synagogues and neighbourhoods around the world have been doing for mourners since time began. Continue reading “Bereavement eating: does grief cause carb cravings?”
Heart Sisters 