“Years ago, my sister-in-law started a family tradition. Every Easter, after the meal, everyone who’s at the table writes on the tablecloth a few words about what they were thankful for in the past year, then signs it and writes the date.

Last year, she didn’t use the Easter tablecloth because Ted (my husband) had just died the day before, and we were all still in shock. But this year, she brought it out again and people wrote down their thanks.

When it was my turn, I cried when I re-read all the things Ted had written there over past holidays. I didn’t know what to write. What did I have to be thankful about? Certainly not 12 months of heartache and sleepless nights, or struggling to pick up the pieces of my shattered world, or the people who have turned away from me because they can’t see beyond their own discomfort with grief.

For a minute I thought of telling my in-laws, ‘I just can’t do this now.’ Then I thought a little longer, and began to write:

‘I’m thankful to … and for the dear family and friends who sustain me.’”

What about you?

What blessings have you found among the sadness during your grief journey this past year?

Melanie Hack
Author of Who Killed My Sister, My friend
Read an excerpt now
TV Shows and Clips about the Death of Cindy James