I t was the vacation we had dreamed of. My fiancé Ron, my two daughters Rachel and Kristi and I were off to Disney World. It was July 4, 2003. I had been a single mom for two years and was about to marry a wonderful man.  Rachel and Kristi loved him and he loved them and treated them as his own children. He was the father they had always wanted.  We had spent two days driving to Florida.  On our third day there, Ron had a heart attack and died. We were devastated and in shock.  We had to pack and fly back to Dallas the next day. 

About two weeks after the funeral, I realized we needed help for dealing with our grief.  I began searching the internet and found a group here in Plano called Journey of Hope.  I called them and our family went to talk to them.  We began going to the semi-monthly meetings and discovered that there were a lot of other young children who had also lost a parent.  It was like a big family that had experienced one terrible event that had brought them all together.

At that time Rachel was 13 and Kristi was 8. Groups from the community brought wonderful meals for us to eat at the meetings. There were sessions for both my daughters with other children their ages and one for me. In these small groups Rachel and Kristi talked and often did art projects to help them express their grief and remember the things they loved about Ron.  “The Journey of Hope couldn’t take away the grief but they really helped me get over it,” said Kristi “It was really nice to know that someone else felt the way I did and the facilitators did everything they could to help me.” Rachel said, “Journey of Hope saved my life. It gave me friends who had also gone through deaths in their family. I also got a mentor, Daryl, who I became very close to.  JOH gave me hope in a time of bleakness. I am planning to someday become a facilitator and work with high school age young people.

Since Ron’s death I have gone through two more deaths. It hasn’t been easy but JOH got me through it. The people at JOH gave me hope for a better tomorrow and the tools and motivation to get there.”   We attended Journey of Hope for one and a half years and made friends there. During our time there, my father also died. A hard decision we faced was about when to stop attending. That was approximately one year ago. During the time we attended, there were special events also. There was a balloon launch to remember our loved ones and each year in December there is a wonderful Candlelight Service to remember the loved ones we have lost. We have continued to attend the Candlelight Service since we stopped going to the regular meetings. Rachel says it best for our family, “JOH willforever have our love and gratitude.”