Finding Jill - by Jill Kraft Thompson

Coping with Sudden Multiple Losses



Title: Finding Jill
Author: Jill Kraft Thompson
Publisher: Mind, Body, and Soul Productions
Category: Grief and Bereavement
Publication: September 2013
ISBN: 978-0-9894252-0-9 (print)
ISBN: 978-0-9894252-1-6 (ebk.)
192 pages plus 32-page photo insert



Imagine the greatest loss life could deliver then multiply it times five. For instance, you are living a great adventure in the Italian countryside with your husband and two young children. Your mother, sister, and niece fly out for an extended visit, and you excitedly map out a grand tour, showing them exotic and historic places. And then, as you're driving from Venice to Florence, a semi crosses the median and strikes your minivan head-on. When you wake up in the hospital, barely alive, you are told that the five people you loved most didn't make it.

That's what happened to Jill Kraft Thompson, who has courageously written an account of her dramatic experience. Many of us don't know how we would survive such a loss; nor do we know what to say to those who have experienced a similar tragedy. Her book, Finding Jill, walks us through the territory of loss and reclamation. Jill knows grief and she knows the recovery journey and is dedicated to helping others learn to navigate their own grief-impacted lives by sharing her newfound coping skills.

In Jill's own words, "When I buried my husband Bart, I wasn't emotionally able to put his wedding ring on his finger. I wasn't sure why; I just sensed that I needed it more than he did. That first summer I figured out what to do with it. I had a band made with my children's birthstones and had it soldered onto Bart's ring to make a tangible and beautiful reminder of all of them. I still wear it today."

Jill shares that "true recovery is knowing that your grief is now a part of you and will never go away. This kind of recovery comes when you begin controlling your life rather than letting your grief take control."

For anyone willing to have their heart opened, this book will change the way they think about death and about life as well.

"Jill could not have shown us how to grieve and survive our losses any better. The word that emerges through it all is hope."-- Bob Diets, author of Life after Loss


About the Author

A native of Weiser, Idaho, Jill Kraft Thompson lives with her husband John and their five-year-old son Franklin in the mountains north of Boise. She is dedicated to helping women and men of all ages and backgrounds navigate the grief recovery process. Featured Articles - Home Page