Elizabeth Del Papa still visits the grave of her son, Luke Bradburn, at Austin Memorial Park Cemetery. In Wimberley, grief guide Jennifer Sabatier uses the land at Owl’s Nest to help people work through their own losses, as she works through hers.
Elizabeth Del Papa stands near the grave of her son, Luke Bradburn, at Austin Memorial Park Cemetery in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 12, 2026. Del Papa described Luke as wonderful and talented, a young man who she said fell in with the wrong crowd. 
A road leads out of Austin Memorial Park Cemetery toward traffic in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 12, 2026. After a visit to a grave, mourners return to a world that kept moving without their loved ones. 
Jennifer Sabatier, a grief guide, sits inside Owl’s Nest, her space in Wimberley, Texas, on Oct. 26, 2026. Sabatier uses nature and the land at Owl’s Nest to help people grieve and heal after a loss. She has worked with people going through life transitions for more than 30 years and has focused on grief and loss since 2014. 
Antlers, stones, feathers, a candle and other objects of personal meaning form an altar at the center of the client space at Owl’s Nest in Wimberley, Texas, on Oct. 26, 2026. Sabatier said the altar is a living example of her work. 
Jennifer Sabatier lights a candle on the altar at Owl’s Nest in Wimberley, Texas, on Oct. 26, 2026. Sabatier lights the candle to open each gathering, and she said every client interaction is sacred. 
Jennifer Sabatier demonstrates a practice she calls “object as ritual” at Owl’s Nest in Wimberley, Texas, on Oct. 26, 2026. Sabatier asks clients to bring objects that belonged to their loved ones to help them connect with the emotions and longings they carry inside. 
Jennifer Sabatier shows how she guides people through a hands-on practice at Owl’s Nest in Wimberley, Texas, on Oct. 26, 2026. Sabatier asks clients to try new practices and meditations, then express what they felt in a physical form, such as building an altar, writing a poem or creating a sacred space in nature. 
Jennifer Sabatier reaches toward a mobile she calls the Womb of Support at Owl’s Nest in Wimberley, Texas, on Oct. 26, 2026. The mobile represents the people, places and beliefs that offer comfort through grief, and Sabatier said its movement shows emotions being allowed rather than balanced out. 
Jennifer Sabatier stands beside “Filmore,” a photograph by Frank Relle, at Owl’s Nest in Wimberley, Texas, on Oct. 26, 2026. Sabatier and her husband began collecting Relle’s work on frequent trips to New Orleans, and she said the photo, which captures the dark and light of grief, has become even more meaningful since he died suddenly in 2023. 
Jennifer Sabatier stands beneath wind chimes in the Circle of Ancestors at Owl’s Nest in Wimberley, Texas, on Oct. 26, 2026. Sabatier created the circle at the center of the property as a place of stillness and listening to honor loved ones who have died, and she said she feels her late husband in the wind there. 
Jennifer Sabatier touches a carnelian stone set in the edge of a fire pit at Owl’s Nest in Wimberley, Texas, on Oct. 26, 2026. Her late husband built the fire pit and later added gemstones marking the four directions at her request, with the carnelian marking the south. 
Jennifer Sabatier reaches into a sacred space inside a cedar tree in the Circle of Ancestors at Owl’s Nest in Wimberley, Texas, on Oct. 26, 2026. The space honors her family’s ancestors and those of the Indigenous people who lived on the land. 
A metal airplane and a heart-shaped “LOVE” stone mark the entrance to the Circle of Ancestors at Owl’s Nest in Wimberley, Texas, on Oct. 26, 2026. The airplane, set atop one of the circle’s guardian logs, honors Sabatier’s father-in-law, who was a pilot, and the stone was a gift to the land from a friend. 
Jennifer Sabatier holds a white feather she found at her feet as the visit ended at Owl’s Nest in Wimberley, Texas, on Oct. 26, 2026. Sabatier said feathers are one way her late husband makes his presence known. 
A girl makes a heart with her hands toward a visitor at Christus Santa Rosa Hospital in San Marcos, Texas, on Oct. 10, 2026. The visitor had come to see a dying loved one when the girl, a stranger, made the gesture from across the room.
