Last month I reunited with Miracle. I’ve spent many years pushing against her, resisting the mere mention of her name. Turns out I had been seeing her all wrong. You see, Miracle isn’t about some prize granted to a select few, Miracle is what happens when we bear witness to life’s marvelous events and amazing qualities. Miracle is what happens … Read More
On Overcoming Loss and Suffering
The holidays can be an especially difficult time for those who are coping with a past loss or are reeling with fresh grief. My heart is heavy for all whose sadness is raw right now.And, yet, the knowledge that we all have the ability to achieve healing lifts me up.I hope this message brings some form of comfort to you, or … Read More
All I Want for Christmas Is…
How would you fill in the blank?All I want for Christmas is_______. “All I need is my son back.” These words from a man whose son died last week. The day after he came home from surgery to repair a birth defect in his heart. The day after he turned twenty-one-years old. A short time after his brother … Read More
Every Day a New Story Begins, Part II: Senseless and a Digging for the Light Excerpt
“It’s senseless,” she said, before they parted ways. Two women were talking about the unexpected death of a mutual friend. She was sixty-three years old. A mother. Grandmother. Wife. Friend. Vibrant and working one day. Gone the next. Poof! A new story begins. One where the person’s stories will now be spun by those who love her. Those who are … Read More
Digging for the Light, Excerpt 1
My last post was about hummingbirds and was included in the Happy Happenssegment of this blog.The following excerpt relates to the day after my Gavin’s first birthday, my second Mother’s Day. * * * The date was Sunday, May 12, 1991. Mother’s Day. I spent that day, the one that should have been my second Mother’s Day, weeping.Over a … Read More
Don’t Be Afraid, I Want to Say; You Have Neighbors in Grief and Allies in Healing
Moonlit oceanon the eve of a storm “Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid.” I recently stumbled across this Frederick Buechner quote. So poetic. So poignant. So precise in the way it captures life’s essence. In the last three days, I’ve encountered numerous stories with both those elements. Here is the … Read More
Every Day a New Story Begins, Part I, Sudden Death
“Every day a new story does begin, doesn’t it?” The shop owner said as he rung up my purchase. “Sometimes it doesn’t even take a day,” I replied. “Every second a new story begins.” I learned this lesson twenty-two years ago. In the labor and delivery room. When I saw the fleeting look of panic in the nurse’s eyes. When … Read More
A Bittersweet Birthday
Last month I received a Save the Date notice from a friend whose son was born exactly one week before Gavin. I couldn’t help but smile at how rugged and manly this young man has become. How handsome he was standing next to his glowing bride-to-be. And then, a fleeting sadness passed over me. Ha… Each thought of Gavin’s birthday—today—has … Read More
I Don’t Want to be Branded by My Husband’s Affair, or Limited by the Past
In January, I discovered I’d been living in the past. And recently I uncovered yet another layer to this existence. My past, so to speak, the timeline upon which I base my present life, seems to begin and end five-and-a-half years ago. September 1, 2006. The day I stumbled upon my husband’s second affair. And frankly, I am a bit … Read More
On Grief
Every hour, across the globe, stories of loss are headlined in newspapers, on radio and television. Each story, however, is both intricately and simply personal. As these stories unfold before the public eye, the griever is entering Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ 5 Stages of Grief, a complex web of emotion and thought. And though grief is a natural and essential part of … Read More