Ignored Grief Never Goes Away

Imagine facing the greatest loss of your life, and not being able to talk about it.
This is what Karen Litchfield—and her siblings—went through.

I shared a glimpse of Karen’s story in my book, Love Your Life to Death (pg. 113) and
interviewed her on my Hunters Bay Radio Show. (tune in May 5th at 8am or on HBR’s Podcast). https://www.huntersbayradio.com

Karen: We talked about my mom’s tragic death in a car accident, when she was 31 years old.
Her name, Joan Marie Sanders (nee Heard).
My dad was left with five children; 7 year old twins, and a 6, 5 and 4 year old.
He has never been able to talk about it. After she died we weren’t allowed to ask questions
about her, see photos or talk about her at all. He has never talked about her and even later in
life when we have our own children we’d say, “What can you tell us about mom?”
His response “There’s nothing to say.”

I shared: It is so hard when we don’t talk about grief or allow children to grieve.
Your dad didn’t know how to grieve. Sharing this story in my book was life-changing for me; realizing the impact of unresolved grief. I cried for a really really long time.
This is a beautiful but hard part of Karen’s story. Big grief but being a voice for change-
Encourage people to have “The Talk” and allow grief!

A wonderful part of Karen’s story is what she is doing at our local high school;
something every high school should do:

Karen: We’ve started “The Clothes Closet” where students can “shop” for all kinds of clothing.
And if we don’t have an item they need, we buy it for them!

I love it! I am SO excited! Karen, you accept gently-used clothing, new clothing
and of course... cash donations!

If you are in the Huntsville area and have a donation for this amazing cause,
call Karen at 705-788-9698 or email at klitch5@hotmail.com.
Or on Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/theclothesclosetHHS/

Wouldn’t this be great to start at your local high school?
Thank you, Karen, for sharing your story and for all that you do
​ to make the world a better place!