Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share The Empty Wheelchair – Wrestling with Grief after the Loss of a Son
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
The Empty Wheelchair – Wrestling with Grief after the Loss of a Son
Most of us have experienced the eerie feeling that goes with handling the personal possessions of a loved one who has passed away. Some very mundane things can produce surprisingly poignant reactions.
Such was the case when our son passed away at age 22 from complications of cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Graham’s mom and I knew we might be carrying sentimentalism to the extreme, but many of the things that our son left behind became nothing short of sacred to us.
Sorting through Graham’s dresser one day I teared up at the sight of his hairbrush! The little wooden stick with its crooked yellow bristles was suddenly sacred because it had groomed his satiny hair. A crinkled tube of Tom’s Silly Strawberry toothpaste and his Royal Mandarin cologne were suddenly precious artifacts; the scents from those toiletries evoked Graham in the deepest parts of my brain.
Clothes, we discovered, were uniquely sacred because...
Continue Reading at InnerSelf.com (plus audio/mp3 version of article)
Read by Billy Joey, AI
Music By Caffeine Creek Band, Pixabay
About the Author
Dr. Steven Gardner is an internist at Massachusetts General Hospital, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and past Medical Director of the Massachusetts Special Olympics. He is a past winner of the Harvard Medical School Humanism in Medicine Award. Steven is a prominent photographer whose images focus on the resilience of people facing adversity and the compassion of caregivers. His work has been exhibited in Boston and Martha’s Vineyard, where he is a volunteer physician at Camp Jabberwocky, the location and inspiration for many of the stories in his book, Jabberwocky: Lessons of Love from a Boy Who Never Spoke.
View all episodes
By InnerSelfcomMost of us have experienced the eerie feeling that goes with handling the personal possessions of a loved one who has passed away. Some very mundane things can produce surprisingly poignant reactions.
Such was the case when our son passed away at age 22 from complications of cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Graham’s mom and I knew we might be carrying sentimentalism to the extreme, but many of the things that our son left behind became nothing short of sacred to us.
Sorting through Graham’s dresser one day I teared up at the sight of his hairbrush! The little wooden stick with its crooked yellow bristles was suddenly sacred because it had groomed his satiny hair. A crinkled tube of Tom’s Silly Strawberry toothpaste and his Royal Mandarin cologne were suddenly precious artifacts; the scents from those toiletries evoked Graham in the deepest parts of my brain.
Clothes, we discovered, were uniquely sacred because...
Continue Reading at InnerSelf.com (plus audio/mp3 version of article)
Read by Billy Joey, AI
Music By Caffeine Creek Band, Pixabay
About the Author
Dr. Steven Gardner is an internist at Massachusetts General Hospital, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and past Medical Director of the Massachusetts Special Olympics. He is a past winner of the Harvard Medical School Humanism in Medicine Award. Steven is a prominent photographer whose images focus on the resilience of people facing adversity and the compassion of caregivers. His work has been exhibited in Boston and Martha’s Vineyard, where he is a volunteer physician at Camp Jabberwocky, the location and inspiration for many of the stories in his book, Jabberwocky: Lessons of Love from a Boy Who Never Spoke.
More shows like Inner Power
View all
Sigma Nutrition Radio
388 Listeners
Nutrition Facts with Dr. Greger
3,439 Listeners
The Liz Earle Wellbeing Show
228 Listeners
The Exam Room by the Physicians Committee
3,365 Listeners
The Doctor's Kitchen Podcast
585 Listeners
Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee
3,897 Listeners
The Proof with Simon Hill
2,603 Listeners
The Wellness Scoop
1,311 Listeners
ZOE Science & Nutrition
2,035 Listeners