As levees are breaking, a flood comes Washes away all the rubble Past indiscretions and stalemates We are all sailing to the gates Everybody leaves one day I know it hurts Everybody goes away You will too, I will too (Ghost) The thing is, everything that lives will leave one day. Death is all around […]
Blog
Time to Go Home
Our time here in Tucson is rapidly winding down. In just over a week, Lola the pup and I will embark on our way home. My thoughts start to turn to upcoming adjustments: a return to winter clothing, planning for uncertain, often turbulent weather in early Spring on the road, budgeting for soaring gasoline prices […]
HAPPY? BIRTHDAY TO ME 🥳
March 8th, 2026 I turned 51. Happy birthday to me 🥳 That word… happy. Its meaning has changed so much for me. It takes real effort for me to say it these days, because very few things feel worthy of that word. Everything is tainted by the shadow of grief. I stop and think: Do […]
Finding our way
We each carry our grief – deal with our grief – in our own way. It’s important to know that there really is no right way for any of us to do this, so please don’t ever let someone tell you how you must do it or that you’re doing it wrong. You may choose […]
No Small Talk in Conversations
This past weekend, I flew to Los Angeles for a short 10 hours to attend my cousin’s funeral. She was 54 years old, and passed away after becoming ill in late December. At the funeral and reception, I had the chance to reconnect with tons of family members I rarely see. Many talked to me […]
The Daze of a Week
The first week of March brought a strong sense of nostalgia. When I was prompted to grab my phone and to access my archived memories on Facebook early Monday morning, I realized that on that day, 8 years ago, my sister passed after a long illness. Today was her Service I’m also reminded. I remember […]
Birthday Week
A long time ago I decided I would never be upset if I couldn’t do something super special ON my actual birthday. Oddly enough, Mario and I were kind of on the same page with that, but he was even worse in that he didn’t like to celebrate his birthday at all. In hindsight, as […]
Paean to a Pup
I recently saw an article in the New York Times that posed a provocative question: whether dogs help people live longer? Dogs are rightly counted among Man’s best friends, yet, despite citing research suggesting that owning a dog can make us healthier, this article left me unconvinced of its teased central premise. I have limited […]
Hi, My Name is Liliana…
THE MORNING I WALKED INTO A GRIEF SUPPORT GROUP I sat there, in my car, for what felt like an eternity. It was a cold, overcast Thursday morning in mid-February 2024, just like in the movies. I drove one hour from Washington, DC to Springfield, Virginia to attend a Loss of Spouse Grief Share support […]
Reminiscing … amongst the guilt and the quiet
2025 was a hard year. Really hard. Started that year with my own health scare while Jim’s issues began to escalate. So many doctors, scans, xrays, labs for both of us. Things changed drastically for Jim in May and then I got shingles (but I did get good news on my scare, so that was […]
Fever Nights
Wow, last week was ROUGH. When I wrote on Monday about being sick, I had no idea what I was in for. I was down for seven days with a fever of 102 I couldn’t keep under control and exhaustion. Every night, I woke up every hour or two either chilled to the bone or […]
Learning About Moving Forward from The Gilmore Girls
I love the Gilmore Girls, which originally aired from 2000 – 2007, then was revived by Netflix in a 4 episode series in 2016. The revived episodes follows the current lives of the 3 main characters (daughter, mother, and grandmother) 9 years after the original series ended. I loved most of the revived episodes. I […]