Cultivating a Grief Garden with Ron & Nan Deal, Connor’s parents

A sudden illness can take a child in days, but the grief can echo for decades and it changes far more than most people realize. I’m joined by Ron and Nan Deal as they share the story of losing their 12-year-old son, Connor, and what 17 years of child loss grief has taught them about love, memory, triggers, and the hard work of continuing to live.We talk about a mom’s experience of loss, including the moment Nan describes leaving the hospital and feeling like she’s losing part of herself. We also get painfully practical about grief triggers, why “sweet without bitter” becomes a normal tension, and how grief intensity can shift over time without ever fully ending. If you’re a bereaved parent, or you love someone who is, you’ll hear language that makes the invisible parts of grief easier to name.Then we go straight at marriage after the death of a child: the scary divorce statistic people repeat, what the actual research suggests, and how couples can protect their connection when one spouse needs words and the other needs quiet. We also discuss surviving siblings, fear and hypervigilance, and why honesty at home matters more than pretending to be strong. Ron and Nan share two memorable tools: protecting a “grief garden” with healthy boundaries, and “grieving between the rails” where sadness and hope run parallel, just like biblical lament. We end with the Scriptures they’ve clung to, including Proverbs 3:5–6 and the raw honesty of Psalm 22.I’ll include the Focus on the Family video link they reference in the episode notes. If this conversation helps you, subscribe, share it with someone who needs language for their pain, and leave a review so more grieving families can find it.Click the link below to view Ron and Nan’s Focus on the Family video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwC0xmKjccsShare any comments here *** If you have an Apple account, please take a minute to leave a review on Apple Podcasts if you enjoy this podcast by clicking the link below. By doing so you help increase our visibility and discoverability for others, and we value your feedback!https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hope-after-child-sibling-loss-the-empty-chair-endeavor/id1654053256**** You can also opt to leave a review or rating on Podchasers by clicking the link below. Your opinions matter and mean so much to us!https://www.podchaser.com/HopeAfterChildSiblingLossTheEmptyChairEndeavorYou can contact us by email at: [email protected] you would like to share your story on an upcoming episode, please send us an email so that we can talk with you about it.Thank you for listening!