“Speaking Grief” a documentary

“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 …

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“The Slow Unfurling of a Fiddlehead”

“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 …

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Seven New Year’s Eves

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 …

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Advent: A Visit In The Darkest Hours

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 …

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Día De Muertos: Eat, Speak, and Remember

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 …

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A Funeral, A Wedding, Graduations And One Unwanted Guest

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 …

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The Downstairs Thief

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 …

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What If’s

What If’s

Sharing a short reflection from the exciting Mack Brady Match in 2017 for the monthly “Learning to Live” column in The Centre Daily Times. For those who are learning to live again after loss there are great resources and people to share the journey at www.ltlwys.org. SEPTEMBER 21, 2017 2:09 PM Last Sunday, the Penn State men’s …

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