My yearlong quest is over.I spent my birthday in Minneapolis, reflecting, in gratitude, and connecting with beloved family. We talked a lot about grief, and where our journeys have taken each of us.We were all grieving the same person, Leah, and we all had profoundly different experiences. Each of our lives were frozen in the [...]
What did I learn from my down time, while I was recovering from shoulder surgery?As I reflect on this time, it is clear to me that my surgery and the time after was not down time at all. Let me explain.Since the beginning of this year I’ve been aware of clarity of language, more precisely, [...]
As I write these words, I am marking the 18th anniversary of Leah’s death. The week that starts with her accident and ends with her death is always different each year. There is always a surreal quality to them. I decided to take this day to be with my thoughts, to write, to contemplate, to [...]
It’s back to school time. I live in an area with year round schools but I’ve been seeing back-to-school pictures and posts since July. It’s this time of year, however, when traditional schools return to class that remind me that I will soon be entering the months leading up to Leah’s accident. The new school [...]
Grief travels a diverse and twisted road. It’s often a road that we could never have imagined. I remember thinking that I was grieving for my daughter, Leah, differently than I ever thought I would. You will encounter many facets or aspects of grief as you travel this road. The facets may also be seen as [...]
As I write this, we’ve entered into my birthday month; by the time you read this, my birthday will have passed. There was a time when I didn’t look forward to my birthday; a time when my birthday didn’t live up to my expectation. The problem was, I didn’t really know what I wanted my [...]
2017 was the year I claimed my voice. It was the year I began to tell my story at my book events. Each time I spoke my story I felt more and more like myself. It felt like I was breathing life into a part of myself that I was never quite sure would ever [...]
I used to endeavor to live a balanced life. I used to think that if I controlled and managed everything in my life just right that I would be happy. If I could carve out the exact right number of hours for family, work, health, recreation, etc. that I would have the right formula for [...]
In the last two weeks I’ve had conversations in both our Dinner Party group and our Meetup group about grief at various stages. As I listened to others experiences of grief I was struck yet again by how taboo talking about it is in our daily life. These are some of the things I heard; [...]
I was asked the other day if I get tired of talking about grief. If I’d rather put down my grief and go do something fun. These are really good questions. There was a time that I wanted all of my feelings of grief to go away. I didn’t want to remember that my daughter [...]
