This wedding photo has been in my living room for almost 30 years. Do you see the beautiful young bridesmaid on the right, throwing rose petals? Her name is Rose Mary. She […]
Against The Dying of the Light
Does Magic the Therapy Horse Really Care About People?
Debbie Garcia-Bengochea, the bestselling author of Mini Horses, Mighty Hope and cofounder of Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses, recently sat down with me for a special episode of the This Animal Life […]
Mourning the Loss of a Woman I Should Never Have Met
Madiha was my step-mother-in-law—my husband’s father’s wife. My husband’s mother passed when he was 16, his sisters, much younger, needed care. Needed a mother. Madiha became my father-in-law’s second wife. Madiha passed […]
What She Said, May 23: Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” –Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
My 2020 Curriculum: Adulting 101
I should schedule days where I am a little girl and days of adulting.
What She Said, October 16: Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
The reality is that you will grieve forever. You will not ‘get over’ the loss of a loved one: you will learn to live with it. You will heal and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered. You will be whole again but you will never be the same. Nor should you be the same nor would you want to. -Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
What She Said, October 15: Barbara Kingsolver
A miscarriage is a natural and common event. All told, probably more women have lost a child from this world than haven’t. Most don’t mention it, and they go on from day to day as if it hadn’t happened, so people imagine a woman in this situation never really knew or loved what she had. But ask her sometime: how old would your child be now? And shel’ll know. -Barbara Kingsolver
What She Said, October 14: V.E. Schwab
Love and loss are like a ship and the sea. They rise together. The more we love, the more we have to lose. But the only way to avoid loss is to avoid love. And what a sad world that would be. -V.E. Schwab
The Best Things People Said to Me After My Sister Died
Ok, so my husband is the person who said–and says–most of these things to me. And no, people aren’t generally quite as specific or direct as this. But perhaps, if you know […]
Dear Sister: A Gratitude Letter
Dear Sister, A friend is doing a gratitude diary and it’s been helping her a lot, so I thought I’d try as well. I believe in the practice of gratitude, have seen […]
The Gloria Sirens 