Solstice Stories

Designing space for grief and connection into your home

At 27, Alica Forneret had just moved from California to Scotland when her mother died. The PAUSE founder and grief writer found she needed a safe space to mourn. Though there were daybeds to write from and windows to read...

A phone in the forest

In a back corner of an Olympia, Washington park, hangs a disconnected rotary phone. From it, people who need to talk to someone who is no longer there, can do so from the solitude of the wooded surroundings. The project...

A surfer gives lost loved ones a ‘last wave’

In 2020, Dan Fischer lost both his father and his 15-year-old beloved dog in less than a year. Their losses were followed by the death of two aunts and his grandmother. He felt isolated and alone. “There was profound loss...

Creating new mourning rituals

Grief expert David Kessler says there is no tidy “cure” for grief, but there are many ways to process it. Kessler’s popup Facebook group has grown to more than 30,000 members since it launched. In a poignant video, psychotherapist Esther...