My journey began January 28, 2014 and is continuing. I suffer from PTSD, anxiety and depression from losing my son in such a tragic way. The paths that my journey has taken me on is winding, straight and then takes turns between the two. I have to add there were some cave ins in the first few years.

I have to say all in all, I am progressing and moving forward. The down times will always hit but I am learning how to deal and what works for me. This blog is one of the things that will help me to Be A Hero to someone who is feeling alone on their journey. Everyone grieves in different ways, such as my husband, myself and our sons. Each of us had a different relationship with Justin. At times, you just feel alone because your path of grief takes you a different way at different times than others in the same household.

My son had a saying, “Keep moving forward.” Whenever I feel stuck in my grief, I see those words on my refrigerator and that helps me to keep fighting for peace and searching for happiness. That was the last tweet to some friends of his that have become friends of mine.

In my posts you will see me mention Be A Hero. To those that know Justin or have heard stories of him, he was a hero to so many. To continue his legacy, my husband, Mark and I have created a non-profit organization called Be A Hero www.facebook.com/justinbacksbeahero . We give scholarships to students that share his same Hero qualities at two different schools.

I try my best to focus on Justin’s life, not his ending. Justin took the values we instilled in our boys and went above and beyond. I will get into more of this in later posts.

I created a memorial page for Justin on facebook called Remembering Justin Back www.facebook.com/remeberingjustinback. Here we share memories, stories and letters I write to Justin. I struggled with posting the letters due to it’s my personal thoughts and emotions. This was healing for me and come to find out, for others. You see, even though we have to take the personal grief journey alone, you find out that jumble of emotions you are having, you are not the only one.

I hope that sharing my grief and my personal experience helps in some way. I am not a professional by any means but we all can be there for one another.