Posts Tagged: grief

A Broken Christmas Ritual

December 31st, 2013
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I can’t tell you why but for the first time in many years, I didn’t place a Christmas wreath on my husband’s marker at the cemetery.
I thought about it.  I was going to do it.  But then I never did get around to it.
I’m hoping that this doesn’t make me a bad person.I’m really hoping it just makes me a conflicted human being dealing with life the best way I know.Every Christmas since he died 10 years ago, I have made a personal ceremony out of placing a large Christmas wreath with a big red bow on his … Read More

Confessions of A Mediocre Widow By Catherine Tidd

December 20th, 2013
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The title of Catherine Tidd’s new book suggests she is a mediocre widow. Don’t believe it for one second. Catherine Tidd is quite the opposite.  Catherine Tidd is in fact a courageous, smart and very funny woman in search of herself and an entirely different life while raising three young children after the death of her beloved husband, Brad, in a tragic motorcycle accident in 2007. Her book is refreshing and down-to-earth and is full of painful and funny personal insights about what happened to her after the death of her spouse: the hospital, the funeral, her in-laws, the whole… Read More

Newtown One Year Anniversary

December 14th, 2013
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Today we pause and pray for the community of Newtown, Connecticut and in particular for the families of the 26 victims shot in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  At a press conference earlier this week, the families asked that people remember the 6 adults and 20 children on this tragic one year anniversary by performing an act of kindness or volunteering with a community group. You can visit their new website at www.mysandyhookfamily.org… Read More

Davina’s Holiday Help

December 10th, 2013
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Hershey’s chocolate kisses.  Creamy party dips.  Fried finger foods. Temptation seems to be everywhere during the holidays, especially food that is unhealthy yet oh-so- delicious.  And precisely because it’s the holidays, I always start out with good intentions but then end up giving myself permission to eat those sweet, creamy and fatty foods, don’t you?                             Basically, I need all the help I can get to keep my willpower strong while hanging out during the holidays.  Trust me when I tell you that I will find my… Read More

Developing A Grief Pill

December 9th, 2013
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I just read that the pharmaceutical industry is researching the development an anti-depressant pill for people who are grieving. Hmmmmm…. My gut feeling when I first read this story about the availability of a so-called grief pill in The Washington Post was that it seemed rather predatory of the pharmaceutical industry to be focusing its scientific expertise and vast financial resources on people when they are at the most vulnerable and sometimes lowest points in their lives. I vividly remember the competing emotions I felt after my husband died.  Raw pain and numbness.  Exhaustion and adrenaline.  On top of all… Read More

Have Some Fun

December 2nd, 2013
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Some people are hard wired to grab life for all its worth and wring everything out of it that is humanly possible.At this time of year, I know how easy it is to feel frustrated.  Those dark thoughts start trying to find a place to live in your head and your heart but you have to find a way to kick them out because they will only drag you down.According to Dr. Rita Freedman, Ph.D., a former professor of psychology and author of “Overcoming Loss,” efforts to heal your soul  won’t work “if you keep on punishing yourself or the… Read More

A Buddhist Rice Bowl

November 26th, 2013
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Here Is Something To Think About. . . . “In Zen Buddhism, there’s a concept called ‘zen mind,’ or beginner’s mind.’  They say that the mind should be like an empty rice bowl. If it’s already full, then the universe can’t fill it. If it’s empty, it has room to receive. This means that when we think we have things figured out, we’re not teachable.  Genuine insight can’t dawn on a mind that’s not open to receive it. Surrender is a process of emptying the mind.”                                   ~ By Marianne Williamson, “A Return To Love, Reflections on the Principles of A… Read More

Nate Berkus Moves Forward

November 25th, 2013
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When I share stories on this blog about my travels with grief over the past several years, I do so in the hopes that it will help others cope with their losses.  Grief can be isolating even though I believe most people want to connect with others and especially those who have been where they are when they experience a loss.I think everyone wants to feel that someone, anyone gets what’s going on with them; especially at this time of the year. One of the ways I found a connection was through reading.  In the beginning of grieving the loss… Read More

50 Years Ago In Dallas

November 22nd, 2013
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On November 22, 1963, I was 9 years old and off from school that day because I felt sick. I was under the covers of my parents bed and watching the black and white television they had in their bedroom.  For some reason my Dad was home that day and he come upstairs to see how I was when the television programming stopped and the unbelievable and shocking news was announced that President John F. Kennedy has been shot in Dallas and died. I had never seen my father cry before and I didn’t know what to do.  He went… Read More