http://www.ashleydavisbush.com Transitions and Loss Counseling, PLLC Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:03:58 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en My dear friend’s mother died recently.  Helen was 88 years old and had been sick with kidney disease for 3 years.  Her decline was not quick or pretty.  And yet, her dying had a certain beauty to it . . . a peaceful acceptance . . . a surrendered willingness.  I ... http://www.ashleydavisbush.com/grief/beautiful-death/ The first tree I fell in love with was a southern magnolia.  That tree, as I recall, was absolutely huge - with low lying branches where a little girl could sit, sheltered from the Texas heat.  In the spring it produced giant, fragrant blossoms - larger than my hands - ... http://www.ashleydavisbush.com/change/tree/ A few weeks ago I blogged about freeing my bunny, Bella.  Amazingly, for three weeks, she hung around our back yard as happy as could be.  I would feed her a daily treat, hold her in my lap and sing to her.  She grazed and roamed amongst the patches of ... http://www.ashleydavisbush.com/relationships/ode-to-bella/ I’ve written before about trying to sell my former home in Rye.  For months and months I employed the traditional sales methods: open houses, advertisements, and heavy marketing.  For months and months I experimented with nontraditional sales methods:  rituals, sage smudges, and statue burials.  Nothing. http://www.ashleydavisbush.com/surrender/other-plans/ Ah, the Fourth of July . . . hot dogs on the grill, brownies, fireworks, flags, and parades.  What a wonderful celebration of our ancestors’ break from the British Empire and the creation of a new nation. http://www.ashleydavisbush.com/gratitude/interdependence-day/ It had been a week of fever, crushing headache, body aches, joint pain, and a mysterious rash when I finally panicked and went to the emergency room for evaluation.  What a bizarre world is the ER.  I saw a man, severely sunburned from head to toe, who had fallen asleep ... http://www.ashleydavisbush.com/gratitude/on-a-dime/ Four years ago, I went apple picking on a New England farm and came home with a bag of Macs and a black baby bunny.  My children were initially thrilled with this new furry family member, but eventually the novelty wore off and Bella the bunny became my charge. http://www.ashleydavisbush.com/surrender/born-free/ The elementary school that I attended was on the top of a large hill.  On the last day of school as summer vacation was officially proclaimed, we ran down the hill screaming at the top of our lungs.  Now, a mother, as summer vacation begins, I also (on occasion) can ... http://www.ashleydavisbush.com/surrender/the-livin-is-easy/ For 3 decades, he had two waist-length signature braids and then . . . snip . . . they were gone.  It has been heralded as “the haircut heard around the world”.  Why?  Who?  Willie Nelson, of course.  I grew up in Texas where he was an icon.  For all ... http://www.ashleydavisbush.com/change/really-different/ A sea of mortarboard caps . . . seniors with tear-soaked tissues . . . parents dabbing at moist eyes.  Pomp.  Circumstance.  Ah . . . graduation. When I graduated from high school, I was overcome by the end of life as I knew it.  It was not only the end ... http://www.ashleydavisbush.com/change/commencement/