Here in Minnesota, the trees have lost their leaves. Days are shorter and cooler and night falls surprisingly fast. Winter is coming. For those who are grieving, the approaching holidays can feel overwhelming. What do I do, this year — perhaps for the first time ever — without my loved one beside me?
Years ago, I worked with a client who couldn’t bear the thought of a big Thanksgiving the first year after her loved one died. She was just too exhausted. She felt the need for a time of quiet reflection, for space to grieve. Although her family protested, she persisted, roasting a Cornish game hen instead of turkey, keeping the sides simple and carving out the space she needed to begin to heal.
For each of us, this Thanksgiving likely will look a little bit different. Be as gentle as you can with yourself as you consider what might work or not work for you. It’s okay to do things differently — smaller, quieter or less-effortfully.
It’s also okay to walk with both sadness and gratitude. We can hold heartache and hope together, remembering what we’ve been given and what cannot be taken away
— Chaplain Jenny Schroedel
Grief Support (offered via Zoom)
Grief and gratitude
Wednesday, November 19, 7-8 p.m. CT
We’ll offer strategies for navigating the coming holidays and invite group members to reflect on how they might hold grief and gratitude in their own lives.
The Grieving Brain Book Club
Second Tuesdays, monthly, begins November 11, 11AM – 12 PM.
We’ll offer strategies for navigating the coming holidays and invite group members to reflect on how they might hold grief and gratitude in their own lives.
Register by Oct 31: & email your address to Jenny Schroedel so we can send you a book. We’ll read Mary-Francis O’Conner’s “The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss”. Together, we’ll explore how grief impacts our minds and facilitates learning.
Optage Hospice Chaplain Jenny Schroedel facilitates grief groups across PHS sites and in the larger community. Jenny is also an author of Naming The Child: Hope-filled Reflections on Miscarriage, Stillbirth and Infant Death.
If you are interested in joining a group or establishing one at your community, contact Optage Hospice or call 651-746-8200. Optage is the home and community services division of Presbyterian Homes & Services.