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A story of unusual grief

Lynne Baab • Thursday September 24 2026

Helen’s mother died two years ago. In the three or four years before her death, Helen could tell that her mother was upset with her but couldn’t figure out why. Her mother wouldn’t talk about it. After her mother’s death, Helen wanted to have an in-depth conversation with her father about it. Before she could have that conversation, her father took his life, leaving Helen with even more questions.

Helen’s father was 89 and had multiple complicated health issues. His wife of 60 years was gone. In addition, of his three close, life-long friends, two had recently passed. I can totally see...

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Grief after caregiving

Lynne Baab • Thursday September 17 2026

Many of us hope for a quick death for ourselves. Still, when it happens for a loved one, it is usually shocking and profoundly unsettling. I had a conversation with someone who experienced that sudden disorientation. She was in shock for months after her loved one died. Most of my conversations, however, are with people who were caregivers, either for a spouse or parents.

In this post, I want to give you vignettes of the stories I’ve been hearing. These stories illustrate the ways that having been a caregiver complicates the grief journey.

1. Missing the community. Jessica is an extravert. She was surrounded...

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Creativity in grief

Lynne Baab • Thursday September 10 2026

Three years and two weeks ago, my husband Dave went fly fishing with a friend. Dave brought both his fly-fishing gear and his painting equipment. They drove to the middle fork of the Snoqualmie River, an hour east of Seattle, beside the Gateway pedestrian bridge. Dave fished for about 45 minutes but felt unstable the whole time. He retreated to the shore, sat on his folding stool, and painted his friend as he fished.

Dave was 77 at the time of that outing. He had been a passionate fly fisherman in his 50s and 60s. After he got a chronic lung disease...

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Grief 101

Lynne Baab • Thursday September 3 2026

My close friend’s husband passed to the new life from ALS less than three months after Dave did. I’ll call these friends Sam and Sarah. For more than a year, Dave and I used to joke about who would go to Jesus first, him or Sam. Dave felt it was a bit of a race and talked humorously about it.

Sam was in a different hospice program than Dave was. Like our hospice, his hospice offers solid grief support, but in a different form than ours. A couple of weeks ago, Sarah attended a 2-hour seminar called Grief 101, something our hospice...

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