I’m sorry, I missed my post last week. The kids and I traveled over the holiday break. We were supposed to be home Saturday night. As luck would have it, there was also ice and snow headed to our hometown Saturday. A few days earlier I moved our flight time up a few hours to […]
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Back and Forth and Back Again
Yesterday was our SSI Regional Group meetup. Four of us met for lunch at a local pizzaria grill type place. My co-leader and I have both been widowed for 12/13 years. The other two ladies that braved the snowy weather yesterday are more newly widowed, both less than a year into this often times unimaginable […]
Route 66 and a Trip Around the Sun
The first week of any new year can bring an unsettling mix of relief, new direction and incentive, angst, apathy and procrastination. Even if your holiday season was emotionally challenging with some bouts of nostalgic melancholy, the quiet inertia of the post-holiday season can be a let down when the world asks us to […]
Being able to Help
Last week, my Uncle Richard died. My dad’s brother, who had dementia for 12 years, lost that battle surrounded by his wife, my Aunt Debbie, and his daughters, my cousins. There will be a memorial service in a couple of weeks, and I have offered to help my Aunt write a eulogy, and Im also […]
Writing the “We-moir”
Welcome 2025. At this time each year, I feel as if a heavy weight has been lifted from me. Despite all the mental minefields carefully curated in my Museum of Magical Memories that are highlighted during the holiday season, I still honor, celebrate and respect the season, but welcome the lightness of the world as […]
Another New Year, Another Chapter Without You
As I sit here on New Year’s Eve reflecting on my day compared to all those past New Year’s Eves I can’t help but daydream about what we would be doing if you were still here today. Thinking about all our past memories and all those memories yet to be made that you will continue […]
The Core Four
Im writing very late today, because I just got home from our holiday weekend. Did not want to forget/neglect writing in here two weeks in a row, so better late than never today. Had our family Christmas this weekend at my parents place on Cape Cod. My niece and nephew couldn’t make it, which was […]
My Spirit Team Six
I hope you all got through the Christmas holiday alright. I know this time of year can be especially difficult for many, whether your loss occured last week, or several years ago. The shadow of that loss can dim even the brightest of holiday lights. On Christmas Eve morning, I spent some time on the […]
Sun Standstill
Today, December 21st ushers in the first official day of the winter season in the Northern Hemisphere and Capricorn season, which is technically my season and a reminder that my birthday occurs in less than four weeks. This holiday season presents a “First” as it is the first Christmas I’ll spend without my mother. I […]
Caregiver
My late husband Don was a caregiver by nature. I know I have said this before, but perhaps not in enough detail or with enough bravado to properly explain how caring and patient and loving he was, and genuinely loved being. Yes, he was in EMS for his career choice, but even aside from that, […]
House Hold
This week began with a visit from long-time friends from New Jersey that still live on the same road as Rich and I had at the New Jersey Shore. They were visiting other NJ refugees that now reside along the coast about an hour from here and spent the day learning about rural Central […]
Taking Account at Year’s End
In my family, December is dying time. Mom passed away in December a few months before Lee and I married. I still can see my father crying softly during our wedding ceremony, sitting by himself, his wife of more than fifty years gone from his side. Thirteen years later, on a Sunday in December, Dad, […]