Mar 22, 2017Something will always be wrongNot long ago, I had one of those days. They come along periodically, and randomly, it seems. I wake up with a nagging sensation of trouble. …Life Lessons3 min readLife Lessons3 min read
Jan 13, 2017When that date comes around, again.My brother died on a highway. I have often thought about traveling to the location where he spent his last moment alive. I am unsure whether I will actually do it. …Grief4 min readGrief4 min read
Dec 8, 2016E-mail, and other ways people live onFact: I do not manage my inbox effectively. When I receive an urgent e-mail, something related to work or my children or a health issue, I handle it as soon as I can. …Email4 min readEmail4 min read
Jul 14, 2016On cancer and courageWhen you are diagnosed with cancer and go into treatment, people often find you courageous. It happens all over, with every type of cancer. In fact, a Google search for cancer and courage generates over 28 million hits. I struggled with the cancer-courage link when making my way through diagnosis…Cancer3 min readCancer3 min read
Jun 3, 2016In the grief browser, all the tabs are openAs I’m writing this, after reading a New York Times article about how human error and risky behavior cause 93 percent of car crashes in the U.S., I’m angry. Yesterday, looking at my brother’s Facebook page, I was in denial. Two weeks ago, slogging through unseasonably cold weather and bracing…Death4 min readDeath4 min read
Apr 25, 2016Hey, you know, flowers.April 24, 2016 So. Four months have passed, and four friends are gone. January — lymphoma. February — brain cancer. March — metastatic kidney cancer. April — metastatic breast cancer. Some local residents, some not. One man, three women. Three adults (all too young) and one teenager (far, far too…Cancer5 min readCancer5 min read
Apr 8, 2016Not all of my contacts are aliveI cannot reach all of the people in my contacts on my phone and computer. They are not all available. And I don’t mean that some of them are crazy busy. I mean that some of them are dead. I don’t believe I’ve ever talked to people about how they…Life Lessons3 min readLife Lessons3 min read
Mar 15, 2016Grief, loss, and verb tenseI have always been rather a grammar nerd. I was an English major and am now a writer. I use the serial comma proudly and cringe at the misuse of the apostrophe. …Death2 min readDeath2 min read
Mar 6, 2016Cobbling together a transformative quest, peace by peaceRecently I went on a business trip and picked up a copy of Cheryl Strayed’s Wild in an airport bookstore. …Grief5 min readGrief5 min read
Mar 4, 2016After losing a sibling, searching for the sinkholeMarch 4, 2016 A while ago, a friend passed along a link to an article on the Huffington Post called “When a Brother Dies,” by Judith Newton. Ms. Newton says: “Even siblings we don’t see, who live differently from us, who move in their own world, may be shoring up…Death3 min readDeath3 min read