My mother will have been gone nearly twenty years come this Mother’s Day. I can tell you that she loved her family unconditionally, and me most of all, I think. Come Mother’s Day I will think about my mother’s generous spirit. I will recall her stubbornness. I will remember that my mother was highly principled. […]
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15 Years and Counting
So, last night was the Soaring Spirits “Hope Takes Flight” Gala; celebrating 15 years of this incredible non-profit for widowed people worldwide. SSI Founder Michele Neff Hernandez took the tragedy of the sudden death of her husband Phil, and with it, created an empire of love, community, and hope. The collective losses of so many […]
Can an Old Dog Learn New Tricks?
My older sister was one of the smartest people I ever knew. She was so good at solving certain puzzles that for many years it was rumored that a representative of a 3-letter government intelligence agency once came around to inquire whether she might be interested in going to work there. Much later in life […]
Finding Your Tribe
So, a couple of things happened this past weekend that are relevant to loss, and life in the aftermath of loss. The first thing is that on Friday evening, I hosted a comedy show. It was a fund-raiser for a local non-profit here in Gardner, MA called “Alyssa’s Place Peer Recovery Center.” They deal in […]
Taken for Granted
As is my custom, my first waking act was to raise the shade covering my rear door and survey the yard. Just this past week I’d taken advantage of favorable weather conditions to ready the yard for the growing season. And quickly, signs of new life were appearing everywhere. Happily, I saw that the red […]
Joy and Melancholy
Yesterday was my oldest son’s birthday. This Thursday will mark two years since Tony’s death. It is hard to hold both of those dates in my heart so close together. The date that we became parents for the first time with the date we all lost him. Joy and melancholy fold in on themselves. This […]
Its Because You are Dead
So Ive been missing Don quite a bit lately. Just some little things, and a few big things, but mostly little things about him. Ive been quietly missing him, and also sometimes telling someone I miss him or sharing a thought or memory of him that I have probably shared before. (when someone dies on […]
No Small Moments
Due to family matters, I was unable to write a new post this week. I went back to my former dog-writing blog site I’d maintained for over ten years on WordPress and perused my post archives and came upon one I’d composed after the passing of my sister, Manette. As it pertains on how we […]
Best Laid Plans
I took advantage of the unseasonably early warm weather to get a jump on my landscaping. As a first act, I picked up a pair of soft knee pads from Home Depot, put them on, crawled into the low space below my deck, carefully avoided bumping my head, and spent the bulk of one recent […]
The Dress
From the Funeral A cute black dress came forward right on time. I was shopping (alone) for something to wear to the funeral for my husband of fifty-one years, nine months. I don’t enjoy shopping, so procrastination prevailed until the 11th hour. This smart black dress with just the right amount of sleeve and buttons […]
Missing My Bookend
I am quickly approaching the two-year mark of Tony’s passing. In a way, I just want to get past the 20th of this month so I can put that date in my rearview window, versus watching for its head on approach. The grief is different now than it was in the beginning. I no longer […]
Thoughts on Life and Death and Easter Bunnies
Happy Easter to those who celebrate. To those who dont, or who DO but arent yet wanting to or ready to after grief has rocked your world into orbit, Happy Day. For those who are too raw right now to feel “happy” anything – I will say simply “Day.” Just “day.” Lets just acknowledge that […]