Finding the Words

Informationen zum Autor Colin Campbell is a writer and director for theater and film. He and his wife wrote and directed the short film Seraglio , which won Deauville's Grand Prix and was nominated for an Academy Award. His play Golden Prospects was nominated for five LA Weekly Theater Awards and was a Critics' Pick in Time Out New York and The Los Angeles Times . Campbell teaches screenwriting at Chapman University and theater at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA from Columbia University. His solo performance piece titled Grief: A One Man Shit-Show premiered at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, where it won a Best of Broadwater Award. Klappentext A powerful account of one father's journey through unimaginable grief, offering readers a new vision for how to more actively and fully mourn profound loss. When Colin Campbell's two teenage children were killed by a drunk driver, Campbell was thrown headlong into a grief so deep he felt he might lose his mind. He found much of the common wisdom about coping with lossincluding the ideas that grieving is a private and mysterious process and that the pain is so great that there are no wordsto be unhelpful. Drawing on what he learned from his own journey, Campbell offers an alternative path for processing pain that is active and vocal and truly honors loved ones lost. Full of practical advice on how to survive in the aftermath of loss, Finding the Words teaches readers how to actively reach out to their community, perform mourning rituals, and find ways to express their grief, so they can live more fully while also holding their loved ones close. Campbell shines a light on a path forward through the darkness of grief. Leseprobe Chapter One Fear The Terrors of Early Grief After we kissed Hart goodbye for the last time in the PICU, the hospital put us in a cab and sent us home. It was an hour-long taxi ride of horror. Gail and I barely said a word, we were so overwhelmed with agony, confusion, and shock. Had we really just said goodbye forever to our two teenage children who were so brilliant and joyful and alive just a few hours ago? Our heads and our hearts could not process it. We were wrapped in denial. And then the cab pulled up to our home and suddenly we felt a new, terrible emotion: fear. We were terrified to be home. At first, this feeling seemed to make no sense. Why would we be scared of our own house? The night before we had walked out of our picturesque front gate, framed by bright red and orange bougainvillea, full of excitement at the prospect of a spontaneous family trip out to our new desert home. And now, mere hours later, the prospect of walking back through that same gate was terrifying. We were filled with dread at the prospect of entering an empty, hollow home. A home that would forever be without Ruby and Hart. Those first few days after the crash we had Gail's older sisters, Betsy and Nina, take turns staying with us because we were too scared to be alone. When night fell, we became scared of the dark, scared to fall asleep, scared of the nightmares that would inevitably come. In my very first nightmare after the crash, I stood outside a Chinese restaurant, struggling in vain to find a dish on the menu that Ruby or Hart would like. I slowly realized the restaurant was empty and abandoned. As I stepped inside, I spotted Hart huddled beneath a table, terrified and alone. He couldn't see me. And at that moment I suddenly remembered that he and Ruby were dead. The image of him clutching the leg of the table, so scared to be dead, haunts me. I've had many dreams of Ruby and Hart over the past three years. Some of them are sweet; I've even gotten hugs and heard their laughter. But right in the middle of most of the dreams I suddenly remember, "Oh wait, no, you...

Autorentext
Colin Campbell is a writer and director for theater and film. He and his wife wrote and directed the short film Seraglio, which won Deauville’s Grand Prix and was nominated for an Academy Award. His play Golden Prospects was nominated for five LA Weekly Theater Awards and was a Critics’ Pick in Time Out New York and The Los Angeles Times. Campbell teaches screenwriting at Chapman University and theater at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA from Columbia University. His solo performance piece titled Grief: A One Man Shit-Show premiered at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, where it won a Best of Broadwater Award.

Klappentext

A powerful account of one father's journey through unimaginable grief, offering readers a new vision for how to more actively and fully mourn profound loss.
When Colin Campbell's two teenage children were killed by a drunk driver, he was thrown headlong into a grief so deep he felt he might lose his mind. As he began to process his grief, he realized that much of the common wisdom about coping with loss was unhelpful-that it is a private and mysterious process and that the pain is so great that there "are no words." Campbell draws on what he learned from his own journey to offer readers an alternate path for processing their pain that is active and vocal, and truly honors the loved ones they have lost. In Finding the Words, Campbell offers practical advice on how to survive in the aftermath of loss. By actively reaching out to their community, performing mourning rituals, and finding ways to express their grief, readers will learn how to live more fully while still holding their loved ones close. Campbell shines a light on a path forward through the darkness of grief.

Zusammenfassung
A powerful account of one father’s journey through unimaginable grief, offering readers a new vision for how to more actively and fully mourn profound loss.

When Colin Campbell’s two teenage children were killed by a drunk driver, Campbell was thrown headlong into a grief so deep he felt he might lose his mind. He found much of the common wisdom about coping with loss—including the ideas that grieving is a private and mysterious process and that the pain is so great that “there are no words”—to be unhelpful. Drawing on what he learned from his own journey, Campbell offers an alternative path for processing pain that is active and vocal and truly honors loved ones lost.
Full of practical advice on how to survive in the aftermath of loss, Finding the Words teaches readers how to actively reach out to their community, perform mourning rituals, and find ways to express their grief, so they can live more fully while also holding their loved ones close. Campbell shines a light on a path forward through the darkness of grief.

Leseprobe
Chapter One

Fear

The Terrors of Early Grief

After we kissed Hart goodbye for the last time in the PICU, the hospital put us in a cab and sent us home. It was an hour-long taxi ride of horror. Gail and I barely said a word, we were so overwhelmed with agony, confusion, and shock. Had we really just said goodbye forever to our two teenage children who were so brilliant and joyful and alive just a few hours ago? Our heads and our hearts could not process it. We were wrapped in denial. And then the cab pulled up to our home and suddenly we felt a new, terrible emotion: fear.

We were terrified to be home. At first, this feeling seemed to make no sense. Why would we be scared of our own house? The night before we had walked out of our picturesque front gate, framed by bright red and orange bougainvillea, full of excitement at the prospect of a spontaneous family trip out to our new desert home. And now, mere hours later, the prospect of walking back through that same gate was terrifying. We were filled with dread at the prospect of entering an empty, hollow home. A home that would f…