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Salt Water

@findyourharbor.bsky.social
31 followers 24 following 823 posts

Have you lost someone you can't live without? Salt Water is a blog, online community & resource for those who are grieving. www.findyourharbor.org

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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
For rushing past too much of your life, moments you thought would come again and those you came to appreciate only in hindsight, I forgive you. For saying yes when you wanted to say no needed to say no, prioritized something or someone that didn’t matter or didn’t care. findyourharbor.com/pardon/
findyourharbor.com
Pardon | Salt Water
For doing one last task then running consistently five minutes late when the kids were small, I forgive you.
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
"There is so much of those early weeks that I do not remember. I wonder now if you, too, went searching all over the house for her, not finding her. I did not need to wonder whether you were grieving her. I knew. Your person was gone." findyourharbor.com/our-girl/
findyourharbor.com
Our Girl | Salt Water
You’re patiently waiting, tail moving almost imperceptibly. You glance my way every now and then as I go about our nightly routine. Turn off lights, plug in phone, set alarm, turn down comforter. Slid...
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
I walk to find the stillness, molecules of time away from the shattering. The solitude interrupts my sadness, creating space where I can begin to make sense of my out-of-order loss, keep moving into this aftermath life & find a way forward without my son. findyourharbor.com/walking-thro...
findyourharbor.com
Walking Through Grief | Salt Water
The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth in the present moment. Thich Nhat Hanh
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Writer or not, poet or not, "Saved by the Beauty of the World" will speak to you, move you. Just like Mary Oliver's poetry, it's the reminder about the beauty that remains, even now, that we all need. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCyw...
youtube.com
Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World | Full Documentary | American Masters | PBS
YouTube video by American Masters PBS
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
"He was of course, a piece of the sky. His eyes said so. This is not fact: this is the other part of knowing something, when there is no proof. Neither is there any way toward disbelief. Imagine lifting the lid from a jar and finding it not filled with darkness but with light."
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
www.emotion-mc.org/locations#ci...
emotion-mc.org
Grief Support Groups Near You | Walk, Hike & Run | E-Motion — e-motion
Free peer-led grief support groups where you walk, hike, or run with loss together. Find a Grief Movement Community in your city.
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
"A lot of what is happening in grieving is actually not about verbal processing,” said Mary-Frances O’Connor, author of 'The Grieving Body.' Walking & running saved me after Jimmy died. To find an E-Motion group near you, click the link in the comments. wapo.st/4gxsY6P
wapo.st
How these people used exercise to cope with unbearable grief
Scientists are beginning to study the ways that exercise can help bereaved people navigate loss.
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
"Perhaps part of the healing is lying in the darkness, sitting with that black grief, absorbing the magnitude of all that is lost. Maybe there's no way to get to gratitude without that. To a place where the remembering is even possible ..." findyourharbor.com/a-box-full-o...
findyourharbor.com
A Box Full Of Darkness | Salt Water
Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift. Mary Oliver
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
"Just as each of us love & grieve uniquely so, too, are the answers we offer to the burning question we most want to avoid. Crafting a response takes time and practice. We make mistakes and try again. We determine how much we want to reveal and to whom." findyourharbor.com/the-choice/
findyourharbor.com
The Choice | Salt Water
I carry his presence with me back inside like a lit votive around which I am cupping a hand to keep the moment alive. James Crews
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
"I started to notice just how quiet our house had become. The way the silence seemed to swell with his absence. The missing notes in our family’s symphony. Jimmy’s laughter mingling with Dan’s ... His baritone blending with Molly’s higher pitched voice ..." findyourharbor.com/the-sounds-o...
findyourharbor.com
The Sounds Of Loss | Salt Water
The sea of grief has no shores, no bottom; no one can sound its depths. Primo Levi
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
"And I didn’t go buy fireworks today. Not yesterday, either. Nor will I buy them tomorrow because you will not be here to light them. I realize now what I loved about fireworks was how much you loved them ..." ~ Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer ahundredfallingveils.com/2025/07/03/i...
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
"Although everyone’s expiration date is stamped somewhere, in a place we cannot see, most of us will never notice the end coming, not knowing when or how we’ll leave the world what will remain undone, unsaid, unresolved when we go." findyourharbor.com/expiration-d...
findyourharbor.com
Expiration Date | Salt Water
Every year without knowing it I have passed the day. When the fires will wave to me. And the silence will set out ... W.S. Merwin
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Much as I wanted to snap at my horrified seat mate, I could feel Jimmy's calming hand on my arm, hear his voice in my ear murmuring, "Mom, he didn't mean to spill his drink on you." I bit back the "what the hell?" that wanted to pour from my mouth and took a deep breath instead."
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
"When his cup of cranberry apple juice arrived, I quietly put it into the drink recess on his tray and returned to my book. Thirty minutes later, I bolted upright as icy cold liquid cascaded down my left leg and began pooling at my feet. findyourharbor.com/kindness/
findyourharbor.com
Kindness | Salt Water
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. Aesop
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
"I knew that the pain of losing Jimmy would be searing, no matter when or how it happened. But there, in the dark, I vow to make it worth the pain. To fight like hell to keep him alive as long as I can. To be present for all those sweet moments of ordinary joy." findyourharbor.com/enough/
findyourharbor.com
Enough | Salt Water
There in the dark, he asks if it was really worth it. Were the instants of joy worth the stretches of sorrow? Were the moments of beauty worth the year of pain?  V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Add...
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
"It’s all such a mess— how immaculate the house is now. All I want is you tracking muddy bootprints across my life. Come back, fix this with my missing shoelaces. Why did I care that we were walking on salt? Come home. I will call it the beach." ~ Megan Falley substack.com/@andreagibso...
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
"To join the Parents of Dead Children club is a twisted privilege. An honor you’d happily give up to have your baby back. You are the stuff of other people’s nightmares, yet how much less rich your life would be without these astounding souls." findyourharbor.com/the-club-no-...
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
"In that place with no coordinate on anyone’s map but mine, the energy of our shared particles still dancing between us. The meeting point between the mundane and the divine. The place where Jimmy will find me whenever I let that last breath go." findyourharbor.com/the-thin-pla...
findyourharbor.com
The Thin Place | Salt Water
“’They’re never far from us, you know.’ ‘Who?’ I asked. ‘The dead. No more’n a breath. You let that last one go, and you’re with them again.’” William Kent Krueger
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
It's impossible to describe the body blow of hearing 'There are no more treatments to try' spoken about your 21-yr-old son...yet as poet Andrea Gibson wrote just before her death, happiness really is easier to find once you realize you don’t have forever to find it. findyourharbor.com/stilling-time/
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
"Twelve years on, my brain has finally come to terms with the reality of his death, yet even now I struggle to make sense of it. The here replaced with the no longer. The symmetry of our family forever gone. The missing piece I have tried so hard to find." findyourharbor.com/the-missing-...
Puzzle of sky blue pieces with one piece missing
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
"This week has been difficult for no particular reason. Well, that's not true– my children are dead. That's the reason." ~ Liane Cooper findyourharbor.com/she-came-any...
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
"Gone child. Ghost child. My beloved boy. Talk to me. Tell me where the dead go. Visit me. Break bread with me. I'll make you what you love. Crab cakes & chocolate chip cookies. I'll even let you lick the spoon ..." findyourharbor.com/ghost-child/
findyourharbor.com
Ghost Child | Salt Water
Whatever I am doing, wherever I am, I am thinking: Where is he, where is he? He can't just have vanished. He must be someplace. All I have to do is find him. Maggie O'Farrell
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
My husband and I both got tattoos in honor of our amazing son, Noah. He was always so loving and happy, and he would want us to stay positive. The SE Victory tattoo is a tribute to his gaming family Smokeless Empire. ~Melissa Griffin 💚 Noah Skylar Lear, 7/13/99 - 3/16/16 #tattoosoflove
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
There is much more to my story and if you are interested in engaging, you can find me on Substack @ Liane Cooper. #tattoosoflove
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
This art was designed by a very talented friend of ours. We also used this design on her gravestone & have many prints we've given to friends & family. The daisies are a reminder of the community that loves her & holds us.
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
She remains the brightest to me–ever present & never far from my mind or soul. The absence of her weighs more than all the gemstones in the world combined. We've chosen to permanently mark our bodies so that those around us can see even just a glimmer of her light.
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
In the case of my most precious gem, she can't be seen--at least, not in the way we long for her to be. My feeble attempts at making her known will always fall short of the magnitude of her value and depth. Even so, I must try.
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
My daughter's name is Jemma. Jemma means "precious gem." Gemstones are formed in the dark and brought into the light where we can witness their beauty. The thing is, their beauty remains–whether or not they are seen.
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
This is a photo of the Post-it Notes I have kept since Rory was a little boy. I had one traced to remind me every morning of his love. He was my only child & died in his sleep 4 yrs ago from a genetic heart defect we never knew about. I look at it all the time. ❤️ S x ~Sharryn #tattoosoflove
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
Each element of the sleeve will be a canvas of memories, a heartfelt dedication that echoes his spirit and the bond we shared. He will forever be our number 16 ❤️ ~ Andrew McKinnon Foundation #Forever15 #tattoosoflove
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
Andrew wasn’t just my son; he was my hero as well as my favourite football player. Before this, I never had a tattoo. He always said he was going to get a full sleeve when he was old enough. This tattoo is the first of a full sleeve that will be entirely dedicated to him.
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
My son Andrew valiantly battled heart disease from a young age, enduring 2 defibrillator implant surgeries & died on the football pitch at just 15. A committed player for Salvesen Community Football Club & devoted Hearts fan, his love for football was his defining attribute.
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Nicole didn’t think about being beautiful or free. She just was. ~ Kim Peacock #tattoosoflove
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
She loved freely, gave of herself freely and had a beautiful free spirit. Now, in Heaven she is truly free of the confines of this world. “Butterflies can’t see their wings. They can’t see how truly beautiful they are, but everyone else can. People are like that as well.” – Naya Rivera
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
When our daughter Nicole was killed in an accident right after Christmas 1998, it was a loss so deep I believed I wouldn't survive. The event caused me to feel like a prisoner in my pain. Trapped. But when I thought about Nicole’s life & how free she was, I became determined to follow her example.
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
This was my brother Anthony's signature. I got it on his birthday, one month after he passed away. The blackbird represents the song, Blackbird, which my mom always says was "his song". ~Lana #tattoosoflove
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
My second showcases the magic Mason believed that dream catchers hold with a photo of his eye in looking out. A knowing that he is with me still and is watching over me. My third is a portrait of Mason's to have with me always. ~ Melissa Stasiak #tattoosoflove
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
Mason & I had been talking about getting our 1st tattoos together. When he was killed in a car accident at 20 in April 2019, I knew I would follow thru for him. My 1st tattoo, done just a few months later, states the reality of my feelings with his "wings around my heart.”
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
My daughter and I got matching tattoos. This is my son’s fingerprint (blown up) and his actual writing. The artist made a stencil from Pike’s handwriting and traced it. ~ Mica Refit Dallas #tattoosoflove
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
It makes me laugh and tugs at my heart ❤️ ~Sharryn #tattoosoflove
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
I had some of the message from the last card I had from Rory tattooed onto my arms. On one side, he thanks me for being the best mum ever. The other side where he panics because he bought the wrong card and once home just scores it out to be mother’s day instead of birthday.
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
My husband Nate's dad died suddenly & unexpectedly at 60 on August 7, 2017. Nate got this tattoo in honor of his family crest which means "for the king." His family is Irish. We were able to find the crest that matched his family's. ~Aja Oakman-Mahaffey #tattoosoflove
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
I chose the music note for his love of music and the blue rose for him. Angel wings for my angel, Carson. ~ Tatum Price #tattoosoflove
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
My son Carson passed away aged 13 on the 12th April 2019. He is my first son! The song lyrics "I'll be living one life for the two of us" gave me hope as I know he would want me to keep living and keep him alive with me!
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
... his soul will stay with me forever. And this is my reminder that he will never truly leave me. ~ @alymel91 #tattoosoflove #ref83
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
I never thought I'd be brave enough to get a tattoo & I never thought I'd be brave enough to live without my big brother. Together forever, always watching out for his baby sister. Two skullconuts, one for me & one for Rudy, though he's no longer here in the physical world ..
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
the image of my three children is from a memory full of joy and hope and love and no worries of whether or not there would be a future and it transports me back into those feelings as alien as they feel now after losing him. ~ alix mellis-brown #tattoosoflove
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
it still feels so wrong that i am here and he is not. the dragonfly is powerful imagery for so many people, especially when they have lost someone; i rub my fingers over it all the time and think of him. it’s next to ‘111’ which was his birthday and he passed at 11:11am.
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
i have a craving to get tattoos now & they all circle back to Max in some way. he loved tattoo art & was working on a sleeve. we talked about it all the time, sharing images of what he liked, how he wanted it to look. he ran out of time, time that he should have had, time that was his.
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Salt Water @findyourharbor.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
... as well as other reminders of him and will continue to honor him with more tattoos as time goes on. My son was 22 when he passed away due to fentanyl. He was the kindest most loving, non-judgmental person and gave the best hugs ever. ~ Judith Meier #tattoosoflove
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