Some folks find it difficult to get through the day when millions of people gather to celebrate Thanksgiving and spend time with their families.
This Thanksgiving, many bereaved families are struggling because they have an empty seat at the table. Now, a mother from Virginia who transformed her sorrow into a desire to serve others.
It’s difficult to sustain grief on a day like Thanksgiving since it comes in waves.
“It’s hard,” mother Debbie Zane stated.
People are taking breaks to spend time with their loved ones at Fairfax Memorial Park Cemetery, as you can see when you glance around. Debbie Zane is among many who have been relishing this most recent emotional upswing.
“It’s a time when their absence is more pronounced,” Debbie Zane stated. “Especially because everyone is getting together on the holidays.”
Three years have passed since the death of her 26-year-old son, Alex Loomis, in January. She claims that he struggled with both mental illness and drug addiction.
“Every Thanksgiving, in the morning I come, and I visit my son Alex,” Zane stated. “It’s sad but it’s also connection and an opportunity, a quiet opportunity to take time for my own grief.”
Zane recalled the experience of spending the holiday with her kid.
“He loved Thanksgiving, he loved to eat,” Zane stated. “After losing him, I felt really called to help other parents.”
She chose to write in May 2023 as a way to cope with the suffering she was experiencing, and her writing eventually became the book “Finding Peace and Purpose Amidst the Tears.”
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“To help others who are on a similar journey to help them not feel alone, to give them hope for peace and healing and the inspiration to go on,” Zane stated.
She gives guidance to people who, during the holidays, also have an empty spot at the table. She became a certified grief coach in order to enhance her purpose while she adjusted to this most recent wave of finding balance.
