They come to the site broken by life, hearts crushed by emotional pain.  They have lost siblings, spouses, children, parents, best friends and lovers.  They come seeking support, assurance that they are not alone in their unbearable grief. (more…)

I gaze out my window and I see only snow . . . a wall of winter white . . . and the world shut down.  Schools and airports are closed.  Doctors and dentists have nothing but cancellations.  Retailers hibernate.

And once the storm has passed, we are launched into work:  snow blowing, shoveling, salting, and plowing.  I’m reminded that snow days, like grief, require a persistent energy. (more…)

My creative energies have been directed toward a lecture that I’m giving this week in South Carolina.  So I’m leaving you with one of my first blogs, but one that many of my readers have found touching . . . 

Harold is waiting to die.  There were six of us at his bedside in the county nursing home, leaning toward him singing softly, “Amazing grace . . . how sweet the sound . . . “  Tears in his eyes, he shook each of our hands saying, “Thank you, you don’t know how much that meant to me.”  Little did he know how much it had meant to us . . . ..how much he meant to me. (more…)

The waitress placed the mushroom, egg, and pecorino risotto in front of me.  I inhaled the intoxicating woodsy aroma.  The man at the table next to us leaned over conspiratorially and offered, “I had the risotto too . . . it’s to die for . . . it’s absolutely to die for.

His choice of words floored me.  I had literally just gotten off the phone with my sister, who shared that our childhood friend had died at the tender age of 44.  My fellow diner’s casual expression has continued to resonate in my head as I celebrate my 48th birthday this week.

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My best friend escaped into ‘Never-Never Land.’  As the role of Mrs. Darling, she spent 4 months in 40 performances of “Peter Pan in the Park.” Her days and nights were surrounded by pirates, Indians, fairies and magic dust. (more…)