Here we are again – another holiday season filled with traditions, big family gatherings and reminders of who isn’t here to make the stuffing or hang the lights. The first Christmas after Brady’s passing, my neighbor asked me if I would be decorating the house to which I quickly told her no -- that had always been Brady’s job — swearing and all.

For those carrying the weight of loss, the holidays can feel like an endless series of reminders of who isn’t there, a season where joy and celebration seem to stand in contrast to your grief. Grieving isn’t something you simply “get through” or move past, even if well-meaning people sometimes say it that way.

Moving through the fog of grief is a process like no other. There is no straight line through to the other side, whatever the other side is. Despite a plethora of resources for grief support, finding the right fit is critical and can require a mindset like Goldilocks – you may have to try several before you find one that is just right.

No one escapes loss or grief. At some point in everyone’s life, we are forced to endure sorrow. Grief is universal, but it is also an individual experience. When I first announced this project, I was overwhelmed by the massive support from friends as well as strangers – all understanding the spirit behind this initiative.

They were two friends of nearly three decades, both widowed within three years of each other. As they chatted, one woman shared that now, three years after her husband’s death, she felt as if she was beginning to heal. She credited her progress on her participation in a regular group discussion with other widowed men and women.

Rasheed Wiggins was a man in love. After seven years into his relationship with Kimberly Holmes, he decided to make up for lost time and ask Kimberly to marry him.

They had known each other casually as students at Duke University but went their separate ways after graduation. Kimberly chased a career in television news while Rasheed pursued a business executive path and entrepreneurship. Both were driven.

About 11 p.m. the couple was startled by what sounded like fireworks outside the front of their home. Karen reached the front room before Steve as the two tried to identify the source of the sounds. “All of a sudden, the entire door blew in,” she recalls. “I saw a very tall figure with gray hair who just started shooting.”

It’s been nearly 13 years since his wife, Joan, passed away shortly after giving birth to their second child, and today he is working to restart his career and personal life. Todd says he needs to find a new purpose now that his children are doing well in school and moving ahead.

Life really is about second chances, most especially when it comes to love. Todd Heiden and Joan Donnelly got their second chances two decades ago after they met when both worked for the Walt Disney World Company. What began in a sweet, romantic-comedy kind of way ended in tragedy, leaving a dozen-year-old wake that remains, for Todd, as intensely painful to discuss today as when it happened.  

The young couple had much in common, yet their personalities were charmingly dissimilar – Jeff was quiet and reserved while Sandee completed the bubbly and boisterous half of the duo. Just like their married name suggests, they were both indeed bright, professionally, and personally. They fit with and balanced each other perfectly.

Professional writer Hannah Sentenach brings comfort to the grieving through her obituary writing.

Another anniversary approaches without Brady.

Patti was a petite, 60ish woman from Texas, who was clearly enjoying chatting with others in the crowd around her as she and her daughter waited near the Olympic Marathon Trials start line in Orlando. Her son was running to qualify for Team USA and the chance to compete in the 2024 summer Olympics in Paris. Here’s a story about the healing power of tattoos.

As a Florida legislative political candidate, Allie Braswell’s focus was on bringing people with different perspectives together to find common ground. Braswell, 62, and an expert in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and building relationships, had no illusions that bringing people together would be easy. And it wasn’t. But it was a former state legislator from the other side of the aisle, who surprised Braswell after his cherished wife, Shellie-Ann, died unexpectedly in 2021.

“I really had to take a deep breath and sit with the uncomfortable.” That’s how Lori Bogan recalls the moments after the two-year rollercoaster ride that was her husband Matt’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis, his passing and the days and the myriad of unexpected experiences that followed.

College sweethearts Jeff and Tammy Roberts had planned to hit the road and travel across the country in their RV before Jeff’s life was taken in a workplace shooting in Orlando. She has since pursued a new chapter by relocating to her home state of Missouri to be with her children and precious grandson.

People receive and process information differently, most especially when they have been smacked down by grief and the feeling that your world has collapsed. Every library or bookstore in the country is stocked with books about dealing with loss.

After 37 years together, Barry and Sara Brady’s life together ended with the fall that should never have happened. “I look back and now have a clearer understanding of just how overwhelmed I was about everything.” First there’s grief, sorrow, regrets and then realizing you have to start a new chapter.