Author: kathysprinkle
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The Things With Nowhere to Go
Note: This piece grew out of the conversation that followed when I first shared my thoughts about the things we keep after loss. So many people wrote with their own stories, and each one carried the same quiet ache — the longing for continuity, the wish that our love could keep unfolding through the hands…
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Teach Your Community How to Remember With You
People often want to reach out when someone dies. They really do. But most of the time, they don’t know how. They don’t know what’s safe to say or if it will make you cry or if you’d rather not talk about it at all. So they wait. Or they stay quiet. And that silence…
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Moving Into the Second Year Without Jess
I am moving into the second year without Jess, and grief feels different now. I suppose the shock has worn off. There is no longer that moment of sudden disbelief that she is gone. Instead, there’s a steady, familiar ache. I am no longer surprised by her absence. I am simply, regularly saddened by it.…
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The Grief Heart: A Simple Way to Signal “I’m Remembering”
When someone you love dies, it can be hard to know how — or when — to talk about them. Many friends want to be supportive but aren’t sure what to say. Sometimes they stay silent, worried they’ll make things worse. But for those of us grieving, silence can feel like forgetting. That’s why the…
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Do We Push People Away By Remembering Out Loud?
Since my daughter Jess died, I have been finding ways to keep her present. I tell stories. I make little #JessInspired games. I invite friends into playful or tender moments that carry her name. For me, these things feel restorative and even fun. They bring a spark of joy into a space that is often…
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The Ache of Forgetting
This sweatshirt caught me off guard. I loved it instantly: a frog with a sword, wearing a cape, shouting Huzzah! But what undid me was what came after. Memory. I had forgotten that Jess loved the word Huzzah. In the months before she died, she used it constantly, tossing it into texts, jokes, and silly…
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The Paradox of Grief
Stephen Colbert’s words echo what the Grief Heart Project is all about Every once in a while, I stumble across words that feel like they were written just for me. This quote from Stephen Colbert was one of those moments. “Some people think that grief itself is contagious, so they don’t want to hear it…
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Love After Loss: Kafka, a Mother, and the Grief Heart
There’s a story people often tell about Franz Kafka. It didn’t come from one of his famous books, but from something he did in real life. He came across a little girl who was heartbroken because she had lost her doll. Most adults might have tried to cheer her up or tell her she’d be…
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Then She Was Gone
I sat down to share a few thoughts and began searching for a photo, unsure if anything would be right. Then I found this previously unnoticed one, so fitting it felt almost prophetic. Leave it to Jess. If this little essay had a title, it might be “Then She Was Gone.” It’s been eleven months…
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Beyond a Day
Why the Grief Heart Project Is Everyday Grief Awareness I only just learned there’s a National Grief Awareness Day—and honestly, I’m glad it exists. Its purpose is brave and straightforward: to encourage honest conversations about grief, a topic many of us are taught to tiptoe around. That mission is precisely what the Grief Heart Project…
Grief Heart Project 