Finding *Meaning* After Trauma and Loss

"Such a Good Girl" | pet loss, grief and finding presence through loss

Rue Loots has always been a dog person. This is her story about the dogs she's loved, and saying goodbye to one who knew her best.

It started with a chaotic afternoon in an informal settlement outside Franschhoek, a scrappy little black puppy, a wild-dog look-alike with bat ears, and a decision made faster than either Rue or Sean expected. They went home with two dogs that day.

Knox and Nova. Sisters from the same litter, and nothing alike.

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"My second greatest blessing." | grief and finding meaning after losing a parent

Celest Anthony had been doing the maths since she was twelve years old.

Only child. Two parents. At some point, she was going to lose them both. And if both her parents died, no matter how old she was, she would be an orphan. She had lived with that knowledge quietly for most of her life in the way that only children sometimes do. Counting what they have. Knowing it won't last forever.

What she couldn't have counted on was the four years that preceded her father…

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"Some version of alright, eventually." | Losing a dream

Kojo Baffoe had a dream. He wanted to qualify for and compete at the 1996 Olympic Games as a track athlete. But life had other plans.

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"As I walk through the darkness"| Faith and stillbirth

Marilize De Clercq had prepared for a life she was about to meet. A nursery ready, a name chosen, a future fully imagined. At 39 weeks, everything changed. This story follows the stillbirth of her daughter and the emotional reality of what came after - the empty drive home, the months inside the house, and the slow, uncertain process of finding a way forward when grief has no clear shape or timeline.

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"You've Always Just Been This Way." | Late autism diagnosis

Jess Hinds had spent her whole life finding ways to cope. She built quiet accommodations into her days without ever knowing that's what they were. Then she became a mother, and everything she had managed to hold together came apart.

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"Life without risk is impossible." | Thai cave rescue survival story

The story about twelve boys and their football coach who were trapped inside the Tham Luang cave system in northern Thailand gripped the world. Richard Harry Harris, an Australian anesthesiologist and cave diver, was the man called in to answer the question no one wanted to ask. His assessment was that most of them would likely die if they tried. He told the team to proceed.

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"All The Hats with All The Jazz Hands" | Burnout and identity

Kamini Pather had built a career that looked, from the outside, like everything she had worked for.
She won MasterChef South Africa. She hosted her own show, broadcast on Netflix North America. She was everywhere. And then her nervous system gave out. This story follows the years that no one saw.

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"The things I hadn't dealt with." | Delayed grief and childhood loss

Josh Prinsloo was twelve years old when the phone rang on a quiet Sunday morning. He was home alone.
The voice on the other end told him his mother had died. And then life kept going. A brother's wedding, a new school, a new city. So Josh kept going too. For fifteen years, he filled his days with friends, music, and stories. The grief never really landed. Not then.

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