‘Tis the season once again – time to celebrate our Irish heritage! We are reminded of our St. Patrick’s Day post last year, when we launched this website. We shared one of our favorite quotes:

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal;

Love leaves a memory no one can steal.

– Irish Blessing

We are proud to announce that we are celebrating our 1 year anniversary of this website and blog! Although it has been a time consuming and sometimes difficult road, it has been incredibly rewarding. We are impressed with the real writers of the world who do this regularly and our respect for them has only grown. Just when we had moments of thinking that we couldn’t keep this up, a great idea would strike us in the middle of the night and we felt inspired again. We thank you for the support and as always, we thank our role model and big sister, Colleen, for constantly motivating us to work harder and to make an impact on the world just as she did.

Below is a recap of the year in images and quotes.

“Our goal is vast – to help not just other young adult and sibling caregivers and grievers, but also to reach their family members, friends, and colleagues, as well as health care professionals, in order to increase awareness and understanding of their needs. We can all improve upon our ability and capacity to discuss death and dying, to prepare ourselves and others for it, and to support those that are going through it. Even though these are big goals and big topics, we think Colleen would agree that we should try to tackle them.” – Our Motivation Behind Losing a Puzzle Piece

“In many ways, losing our sister helped us find more meaning in family and appreciating life – and isn’t that a big part of the holiday spirit?” – Simplify and Downsize: Surviving the Holidays Without the Same Cheer

“#stoptalkingaboutyoursickcat #doyouwanttoaskaboutme #publiccryingismythingnow” – Sister Humor About Our Grief

Photo credit: Melissa Kroll Photography www.melissakrollphotography.com

“After Colleen died our house was transformed by what seemed to be a million bouquets, orchids and ferns, a rose bush and a new tree in the backyard: a physical manifestation of Colleen’s reach. The places where we dwell define our dealings with death, almost as much as our intangible memories and feelings.”- Maggie Gets It: A Place Like Home

We have learned a great deal, not just by examining our own feelings and searching for insight, but also from our fabulous guest bloggers. We heard a mother’s perspective on sibling caregivers, a patient talk about grief and how acceptance is the hardest stage, and various views on sibling loss from a Marine’s family dealing with his sudden death and how music heals, from a sister accepting and reflecting on the whole sibling relationship, from a group of siblings who supported each other through loss, from a sibling dealing with an unexpected loss and realizing life will never be the same, and the lessons a sibling learned through death. We received advice on how to talk to children about serious illness, how to keep going through grief, how Colleen was essential in her friend’s life, and other topics such as ambiguous loss, survivorship, and architecture’s role in caring for cancer patients. We are so grateful for their wisdom.

Check out some highlights of these guest posts through their beautiful images: (Click on the image to link back to the blog post.)

“[Colleen’s sisters] were there no matter what. They knew her better than anyone. With them, she didn’t have to put on a show. If she wasn’t feeling good or didn’t feel like talking, or even felt crabby, she could let her true feelings come out. This is what siblings provide in Caregiving.” – A Mother’s View of Sibling Caregivers

It has been quite a journey and we can’t thank you enough for your support. What we have gained from this website and the many touching stories is difficult to put into words. Every day we are reminded of Colleen and the pain of having to go on with life without her does not go away, but this website has given us purpose and for that, we are thankful.

Read more: losingapuzzlepiece.com