Re-imagining the Advent Candles
Re-imagining the Advent Candles
New Year’s Eve 2020
Thank you for continuing to love and remember Mack who died 8 years ago today. It still takes my breath away. How I long to see his teddy bear eyes and laugh together on the couch. I sense his joyful presence. I picture him running, his long legs stretched out, surrounded by friends, and I …
Speaking about Grief on WPSU’s “Conversations Live”
It was a pleasure to join Lindsey Whissel Fenton and Katie Kostohryz on the panel to talk about the documentary “Speaking Grief” and how grief is revealed in this time of Covid-19. We had some great questions from the community as well. Video linked below for fun!
“Speaking Grief” a documentary
In May 2020 Speaking Grief launched from WPSU with the goal of starting a national conversation about grief. The three year project was produced by WPSU’s own Lindsey Whissel Fenton and will be shown by public television stations across the country. The project aims to create a more grief-aware society by validating the experience of …
“The Slow Unfurling of a Fiddlehead”
My guest post on Abbey of the Arts posted this week. The site is run by Christine and John Valters Painter and celebrates the contemplative and expressive arts. Christine invites guests to share how we live. I spent a lot of time in my back garden last summer tackling some overgrown flower beds. In the …
Seven New Year’s Eves
There is a lighted “H” on the hospital’s helicopter tower that cuts through fog and snow and brightens summer nights. I see it from different angles, in each season, driving in and out of town. It is from that tower that Mack lifted off on New Year’s Eve 2012 for Hershey Children’s Hospital. “I’m going …
Advent: A Visit In The Darkest Hours
My new essay was posted today on Open to Hope reflecting on the season of Advent and showing up for one another in our darkest hours. I love this quote from Sister Joan Chittister: “Have you never been imprisoned by your fears, your embarrassments, your humiliations, your inadequacies? Because if you have, you know that …
Día De Muertos: Eat, Speak, and Remember
Some thoughts as we enter the season of remembrance. Read it in full here. I have come to appreciate that memory lives in a separate space and at times Mack and I share a moment. Often I laugh out loud and “re-member” Mack’s great laugh and feel his warm spirit because we always laughed together. As …
A Funeral, A Wedding, Graduations And One Unwanted Guest
An essay from Elizabeth recently posted on OpenToHope.com. It has been six and a half years since our son, Mack, died suddenly on New Year’s Eve 2012, just shy of his ninth birthday. As the many of us who learn to live newly after loss, we take it on as a part of our lives and …
The Downstairs Thief
My essay was posted on the Compassionate Friends website this week. I wrote it in 2017, but I had mulled about the dream for several years before then. It took me time to prod and poke at my reflection on the dream in my journal, I knew I hadn’t quite culled it. It also took …