January 28, 2003 - March 30, 2022
James "Hudson" Mankin
A wife who loses a husband is called a widow. A husband who loses a wife is called a widower. A child who loses a parent is called an orphan. There is no word for a parent who loses a child.
Lose your child and you're....nothing.
Tenneessee Williams
Depression + Grief Becomes Addiction. Rehab, Sobriety, & Relapse Becomes
Forever 19.
Navigating the loss of Hudson has been an arduous, curl-up-in-a ball and tearfully pray you wake-up-to-a- different-ending-but-never-do journey. Traditional therapy, meditation, group circles did not help me- but each parent's grief, support system, and journey varies.
Below are resources I have found very helpful - David Kessler's Grief.com has been most impactful especially in that you can self-learn at your own pace in online courses, interact in specific grief groups, watch videos, or find additional grief resources.
David Kessler, considered a leading expert in Grief counseling, (protege and co-author with Kubler-Ross who created the 5 stages of grief model) explains in his Finding Meaning book that even after 3 decades of being the leader in grief counseling, that losing his son to an accidental overdose left him unsure of "if I would ever write again, lecture again, or even want to live again."
He found purpose again while writing Finding Meaning. Kessler challenges us not to ask why our children are NOT here (there is no answer), but to find why we ARE here. I haven't completely found it yet, but I am still searching to Find Meaning.