A collection of my recent essays and links to helpful resources on child loss and bereavement.
I was honored that Motherwell magazine included my essay written as a letter to Mack. “Your blue camo backpack hung on the back of your desk chair with your Pittsburgh Penguins baseball cap on top of it for eight years. It was as you left it on the last day of school before the Christmas …
My latest essay ‘About Your Room’ is linked here on Open to Hope. It is written as a letter to Mack when we dismantled his room. Open to Hope is a terrific website packed with helpful articles and podcasts for all types of grief. They help to teach us a new language and way of …
Re-imagining the Advent Candles
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 …
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!
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …