Grief Walking - MyGriefAngels.org Volunteers from My Grief Angels

MyGriefAngels.org's Volunteer; Professor; Published Author and "Grief Walking @ Books" Videocast & Podcast Host - Kendall Klym Interviews Author Stephanie Zamora on her book - "Unravel: Rising Up and Coming Back from a Season of Living that Damn Near Killed Me"


About the Book: "Two years after beginning it, my relationship with the sweet Southern boy comes to an end. After a couple of weeks of showing up at my door, I ask him to leave me alone. Two days later, he commits suicide, and it turns my life inside out. Over the following months, my brain begins deteriorating rapidly. To the point that I cannot put my own life story in order, let alone remember what I did the day before. I sit in front of my computer and just cry because I cannot remember half of the clients on my list, nor can I remember how to build websites."


 

The title of my sign is Eight Hundred and One Thousand.
Since mom's unexpected death in ICU, our father went into schock, developed PTSD within a week of her passing on, and that accelerated the onset of an aggressive Dementia.
While prior to her death, he was healthy, driving, and exercising everyday, after her death - his started on a steep decline that found him bed ridden and under 24/7 home care soon after her death. 
Under the supervision of an excellent mobile care medical unit, and a team of 24/7 caregivers, he was doing well at home until two weeks ago. We got the call Friday night that his blood test results were not good, and because he had not shown any signs prior to this - both his doctor and us thought it had to be an error with the test, which had happened before. Saturday night we got the second test results and they were worse. 
After consulting with the doctor, we felt the only option was Hospice at home, and they were to start him on that the following morning.
We got on the first flight to Los Angeles on Sunday morning, and were able to spend the afternoon with him. He was alert, eating, joking, watching baseball and enjoying having the whole family together. He had a good night and as he did most of his life, he talked in his sleep all night. Then at 5 am, my brother suddenly woke up, jumped out of bed and rushed to his bedside. Minutes later, he woke us all up as he knew that dad was in his last breaths. Like he did every morning since her death, he called out mom's name, but this morning - she responded, as we knew that mom was there to take his hand from my brother and guide him thru.
Dad had a single tear of joy from his eyes as they opened wide, and we knew - he was at last with his lifelong partner of 60 years. This happened right before thanksgiving, and we buried him on the Tuesday of Thanksgiving Week. Two weeks to the day of his passing, we were still in a sort of surreal phase trying to understand and accept that all that had just happened right before what we thought was going to be a family thanksgiving get together. 
Then that same Friday, their favorite picture of the two of them was posted online, and within hours - it had over 801,000 views and on the front page of reddit. We knew that was dad sending us all a sign, but specifically to our younger techie brother, because he sent it to us thru the only medium he knew he would get our younger brother's attention - Online and his message was short,clear and on the picture: "I am OK and with mom again"

This is an introduction to the "Signs" series from the podcast "Grief Walking".  
The podcast was developed, created and is currently managed by volunteers with the nonprofit My Grief Angels. 
If you have lost a loved one, you have probably heard it from others who have grieved before you - You will get signs soon.  
When you least expected, you will see signs that will remind you of your loved one.  
However, not all of us grieving get or feel these signs, so don't feel there is anything wrong with your grieving process because you do not get any of these so-called signs. In fact, there are many theories on why some of us experience these signs, and our objective in this series is not to dwell into a discussion on why these signs are or are not real, or whether they help or not, but our singular objective is to share the many signs shared by online community members of the nonprofit My Grief Angels. 
To share your signs, please visit the "Shared Signs" section of the MyGriefAngels.org website.
https://www.mygriefangels.org/shared-signs.html

The Books segments of the "Grief Walking" Podcast, hosted by Author Kendall Klym, reviews and discusses grief writings, poetry and books as suggested by the online community members of the non-profit My Grief Angels - MyGriefAngels.org.
In this segment on Poetry and Grief, the host interviews the author Louise Morgan Runyon on her latest book of poems. Louise Morgan Runyon's fifth book of poems, "Where Is Our Prague Spring?", was released in October, 2022. 
This book examines Runyon's deep love for the mountains of Western North Carolina; her childhood experience of love there; and her attempts to reconcile this love with the hatred and division found in the present. A great-niece of Lucy Morgan, founder of the renowned Penland School of Crafts, Runyon honors her visionary and activist family in these poems. 
On Louise Morgan Runyon: 
http://www.louiserunyonperformance.com/about.php 
"Louise Runyon graduated from Oberlin College in 1970 at the age of 19 with a degree in Theatre Arts and English. Her artistic work has been influenced most deeply by Joseph Chaikin's Open Theater in New York, the legendary experimental theatre group with whom she apprenticed in 1969, and by Leslie Uhl and The Dance Unit in Atlanta, who watered and nurtured the New York seeds. Runyon has toured her one-woman shows, Finding Home and Crones, Dolls and Raging Beauties, throughout the Southeast and the nation, often through university women's studies departments. She produced her first book of poems, Reborn, in 2004, followed by LANDSCAPE / Fear & Love in 2007, The Clearing in 2011, The Passion of Older Women in 2018, and Where Is Our Prague Spring? in 2022." 
“Runyon is an artistic force to be reckoned with, a woman of substance.” - Atlanta Journal-Constitution 
To order the book "Where Is Our Prague Spring?": 
http://www.louiserunyonperformance.com/orderbooks.php 
Louise Morgan Runyon Books include: 
Reborn: Selected Poems - "Louise Runyon proves that her body is not the only thing that is lithe and graceful. Her poetry ebbs and flows and takes the reader on an emotional journey from her days as a steel mill worker, a dancer, a mother and beyond. Her words capture a life in motion and a life that continues to evolve. Reborn is a splendid tango of words and thoughts, urging everyone to join the dance."- Collin Kelley, author of Better To Travel 
"Runyon has a special skill of using words and songs as rhythmical underpinnings to her skilfully modulated movements...intensely personal and intensely portrayed."- Atlanta Journal-Constitution "Runyon reads as if words were dance movements flowing from her open heart."- Art Papers 
The Clearing - "Based in archetype, mythos, and a panoply of forms, the poems in this book explore the concept of “clearing” in many contexts and on many levels – personal, geographical, spiritual, individual and communal."

The Books segments of the "Grief Walking" Podcast, hosted by Author Kendall Klym, reviews and discusses grief writings and books as suggested by the online community members of the non-profit My Grief Angels - MyGriefAngels.org.
In this kick-off segment, the host reads an excerpt from an award-winning short story written and inspired by the death of his long term partner at the hands of a drunk-driver. The segment also features a discussion with My Grief Angels' volunteer, Mark, who has recently faced multiple losses in less than a year - first his partner and then his oldest sister. In this podcast segment, Mark shares how he relates to the short story from the perspective of a grieving husband and brother.
Blurb from the short story “Squirrels in the Attic,” by Kendall Klym
"Nothing in Trevor’s bereavement books tells readers what to do when squirrels invade the attic. No words or phrases guide the grieving survivor, a month after signing papers to stop life support, through floor shows featuring furry-tailed rodents dropping acorns and poop a few feet overhead at three o’clock in the morning. One author talks about taking deep breaths and imagining the spirit of the deceased spouse or partner hovering above the bed. Another says to “imagine walking peacefully with your loved one, hand in hand on the beach.”
Link to “Squirrels in the Attic,” published in Pithead Chapel. 
https://pitheadchapel.com/squirrels-in-the-attic/

Video Version of this Podcast can be found at:
Our grief journeys are all different, and while many of us find virtual peer-led grief support groups to be a very helpful tool in dealing with our loss of loved-ones; they may not be for everyone. In this episode, you will listen to an example of a full virtual peer-led grief support group session to help you decide whether these type of groups may be for you. 
The groups are usually Closed or Open.  Closed Groups require attendance to each meeting, and Open Groups do not require attendance to each session. 
All of the My Grief Angels' Virtual Grief Support Groups are Open; which means you can join the group every week, or every month or join for several weeks, and come back 3 months from now.  The My Grief Angels groups were designed as open by the volunteers who first created them - so people grieving the loss of loved ones can join when they want to join them; not when they are required to.  If you are grieving, you know that there are good days and a lot of so-so days, so it is entirely up to you when you want to join the My Grief Angels groups.
The session being shared here is an educational re-enactment by Volunteers from the public 501(c)(3) non-profit My Grief Angels - https://www.mygriefangels.org/ 
If you are grieving the loss of a loved one, this video is a small gift to you from a group of volunteers with the non-profit My Grief Angels who want people grieving to better understand the power of virtual peer-led grief support group meetings and their communities of support. 
This educational re-enactment video is for people grieving the loss of loved ones and seeking communities of grief support, but unsure or unaware of what "Virtual Peer-led Grief Support Group Meetings" are really about. 
In an online survey of people who register for the non-profit's free weekly virtual peer-led grief support groups by type of loss experienced, but who failed to join the meetings - found that the majority of them did not participate in the meetings they registered for because they had never participated in a virtual grief support group meeting and/or any type of support group, and when it came time to actually join the meeting - they were fearful of what the meetings may require of them. 
This episode will provide you with a full example of what takes place at these group meetings, and why all of us grieving and participating in this re-enactment are glad that while it was not easy to take the step to join our first virtual peer-led grief support meeting - we are all very thankful we did.  For the calendar of the My Grief Angels' weekly and biweekly open virtual grief support group meetings and the links to register for them, please visit https://www.mygriefangels.org/calendar.html and click on the meeting you would like to attend for the registration link. Also, the MyGriefAngels.org's "Grieving @ Holidays" program, also developed and launched by volunteers, holds open peer-led virtual grief support groups meetings on every major holiday throughout the year (ie, Thanksgiving, New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, & others) and for the registration link to each of the Holidays meeting, please visit: https://www.mygriefangels.org/holidays-.html