The Happy Ending (Grieving Futures)
“The End” means the end of the story, not the end of life, and so a happy ending is one where the characters live blessed and personally fulfilling lives.
Further along in my Grieving Futures
Why I'm going to be sharing my old grief memoir here, after all these years... Wayyyy back in 1998 or so, within a couple of years of my father’s death, I came up with the book title Grieving Futures. That was it. That was all I had, the title. To be fair, that is...
A Day of Multiple Infamies!
Welcome to August 15th. The vibe is a downer and will stay that way. August 15th, 1943, was the day my mother was born. Had she lived, today would be her 80th birthday. By devious and unplanned irony, August 15th is also my birthday (1969, to be exact). It feels...
The Interlocking of Secrecy and Grief
I have been listening to the excellent podcast Family Secrets, hosted by Dani Schapiro, and so many of the episodes surprisingly kick up memories for me. I say "surprisingly" because despite the fact that I admit freely that I was the secret keeper in my family (by...
Grieving Future’s Re-re-release
Yes, really, it's now 2022 and I've re-released this book again! Featuring corrections, improved cover, and better distribution. It's hard to believe it's been twelve years since I wrote it, and five years since I last updated this website. I'm even considering...
The False Sentiment of Material Things
There is a romantic pull to that concept, the idea of shifting off this mortal coil with some remnant of ourselves left behind for our loved ones to cherish.
Poetry for the Living, and the Dead
Few things in our world are as moving as the death of a loved one. It’s natural that people turn to whatever outlets they have such as music and poetry to deal with their emotions.
Homeless (where the heart is)
I had to call the landlord today about a possible water leak at the apartment. This simple act threw me into a long, dreary and painful panic attack. It is the absolute worst to be sitting on the bus, going to work, trying to count your breaths and not keel over like...
New post up at Atheist Republic!
Can we, as atheists with no real common denominator other than what we don’t believe in, use celebrity mourning as any kind of guide or measure for more personal tragedies? I think so. The thing that strikes me about the events I bring up here, from Princess Di to...
The Secular Power of Coloring Books
I’ve found that coloring in a coloring book is meditative in practice. Or, in lay terms: you zone out.
On Helplessness
That is the essence of helplessness, I think, that desperate plea “What to do?” We must do something or go crazy, but there is nothing to be done.
Tragedy changes us; Patience tempers us; Fortitude keeps us going.
Lessons in grief, crisis, and recovery from 30 years of life as an adult orphan from a GenX woman who has resentfully struggled every step of the way.
