Posts Tagged: crying

Public Tears

March 21st, 2013
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I’ve done it in the grocery store in the applesauce aisle.  I’ve also done it while walking down 17th Street, NW and on the Metro platform at Farragut North.
What have I done?
Crying in public.  And you know what?
When I was doing it, I could have cared less about who I ran into or what I looked like.  I was in the throes of grief and I had either heard a song that reminded me of my husband or was coming from a situation where no one acknowledged my loss or what was happening to me.
When I … Read More

Reflections of Nora Ephron’s Son

March 7th, 2013
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Nora Ephron Crying is unsettling.  Especially if you are watching one of your parents do it. My son hates it when I cry and has said that when I would cry all the time immediately after his father/my husband’s death, he would feel this mix of emotions that he didn’t want to feel and so he would walk away.  I understand it and think his reaction was perfectly normal.  He was thirteen years old and dealing with something that adults find hard to handle.  He was just trying to survive. Now, at twenty two years old, my son explains his… Read More

Newtown: A Priest’s Tears

December 18th, 2012
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Monsignor Robert Weiss I always think of priests as people who have heard and seen it all. After years of listening to thousands of people confess their sins (large and small), and executing innumerable weddings, funerals and baptisms, I can’t imagine that priests are surprised by anything anybody does.  I’m sure their deep faith gives them hope and optimism about human behavior but there probably isn’t anything new under the sun for them. Until I read about Monsignor Robert Weiss. Weiss is a priest at St. Rose of Lima parish in Newtown, CT and he horribly lost more than 10… Read More

The Adventures of A Treasured Urn

November 2nd, 2012
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Today I am not trying to make fun of a serious situation, it’s just that being responsible for a container of a loved one’s ashes can lend itself to a lot of funny situations even if you don’t mean for it to be funny. In my case, my husband was not cremated.  I know if he had been cremated, I would have taken very good care of his ashes.  But eventually, knowing me, I’m sure some kind of accident would have happened. Having his ashes stored in an urn in the house might have started out to be a comforting… Read More

Don’t Wait — Put It In Writing

August 10th, 2012
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When we miss someone, we sometimes search for something they gave us, such as a handwritten note, or something that belonged to them, such as a piece of clothing.  Seeing, touching and even smelling something they once used helps us feel closer, as though the person were with us. Whether the person died or moved away, you are feeling sad and you need to find something that will help you work through this lonely moment and perhaps even help you feel stronger for the future.  Handwritten letters or cards are particularly valuable.  I think everyone has a letter tucked away… Read More

The Fear of Tears

May 24th, 2012
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Earlier this week, my son and I were reminiscing about our journey through the college and high school years that occurred immediately after his father’s/my husband’s death and in the midst of talking we started laughing about a period of time that was quite painful and confusing for us. What’s up with that? It surprised us that this happened and I thought I would share this experience with my wonderful readers because it might help someone to know that there is always hope and that things can turn themselves around when you least expect it.  If our conversation helps someone… Read More

Joan Rivers Grief Insight

April 24th, 2012
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Those who do not know how to weep with their whole heart don’t know how to laugh either”― Golda Meir Have you ever laughed so hard you started to cry or cried so hard you started to laugh? For me, I’m usually crying and then it somehow I’m laughing.  I’ve discovered there’s a thin line between the two and no one can tell you where and when one side is going to spill over into the other.  You don’t intend for this to happen but when it does, and it’s happened to most of us, the two emotions melt together… Read More

Paying Respects @WTC

March 14th, 2012
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On a bright and beautiful Sunday morning this past weekend in New York City, I finally had an opportunity to visit the memorial site for the World Trade Center. With my brother, sister-in-law and their 12-year-old daughter, we took a taxi to the 8-acre site in lower Manhattan where the infamous Twin Towers once stood.  The site is deceiving because construction fences surround the area and you can’t see the two black stone squares containing the waterfalls or even hear the waterfalls from the road.  It just looks like a regular construction site. Getting to the memorial site is a… Read More

Take Good Care Of My Heart

February 14th, 2012
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Courtesy of United States Postal Service Decades ago, the CEOs of florist, chocolate and card companies must have been having a long liquid lunch and launched the ingenious idea of launching a fun holiday called Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day happens to be one of those holidays that has never been a big deal to me because it always feels forced.  I don’t want someone to give me chocolates, flowers or a card because they feel they have to do what everyone else is doing.  It means a lot more to me when the person I’m romantically involved with comes up… Read More