Tag: Grief
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Smile
There’s a little nook in my dining room that has four small shelves on the wall. Each shelf has pictures of my two daughters at varying stages of growing up. The bottom shelf has a picture of each of them in her wedding dress before the ceremony. In each picture, both girls are looking down,…
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Complicated
I’ve written several times about how comforting it can be to hear “me, too” when you are hurting. When you see someone who’s been through a similar loss or traumatic experience and is still able to put one foot in front of the other, it’s reassuring. When they’re willing to slow their pace and invite…
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Confirmation
This coming weekend we will celebrate our younger grandson’s confirmation. (Actually, by the time this post publishes on Monday, we will have just returned from our celebration.) Confirmation is a milestone for young people in the Catholic Church and some Protestant churches. I still remember my confirmation in the Presbyterian church when I was 12…
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When Do I Get to Start?
Grief is a necessary and expected emotion in response to a loss. When the loss is the death of a significant loved one, the grief is going to be heavy and prolonged. The depth of our grief is in proportion to the depth of love we felt for that person. Indeed, grief, in varying forms,…
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Don’t Give Up
A couple of years ago I wrote a post titled “What I Write About.” My impetus for this blog was the loss of my younger daughter Rachel in April of 2017. My initial writing was mostly just pouring out the emotions that were going to break me as a person if I didn’t find some…
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Perspective
About two months after my younger daughter died in a car accident, I wrote the following in my journal: Don’t ever think you don’t make an impact on the world. Consider this. One young woman dies, but here are all the people the world lost: a wife, a daughter, a sister, a niece, an aunt,…
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Good Grief
I’m writing this post on April 11th, 2025, the eighth anniversary of my younger daughter’s death. As an aside, don’t you feel the word “death” is harsh? I do. I love the African American tradition of referring to a memorial service or funeral as a “homegoing celebration.” It doesn’t negate the grieving over the loss…
A Light for My Path 