Latest posts
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Me and My Dad—By Justine
This came home from school. Justine’s teacher told me that before she dictated it to the room-mom who was helping that day, she said: “This is a piece of non-fiction.”
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Princess Leia
Justine and I made another podcast over on the Groundbreaking Girls website. I’m adding it here because she talks about death. It’s been a fascinating journey, developing our discussion of death over the months. She goes in and out of her magical thinking about her dad being around, lately asking but WHERE is he? I…
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6 Months
Today marks the 6 month anniversary of Vernon’s death. 6 months of incorporating Grief into our lives. When I’ve mentioned this to friends in the past couple of days, people have most often said: “I can’t believe it’s only been 6 months! Time does fly.” But to me, it feels at least that long. I…
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Grief in the Museum
“Art is an experience, not an object.” —Robert Motherwell I visited one of my favorite museums today: the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (LACMA). The sweet thing was that I was there with my museum buddy of 25 years, Nicole, and her son Julian. Julian and Justine are like cousins, very close. She was happy…
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My Funny Valentine
Happy Valentines Day, everyone! This post is meant to bring encouragement to those who may be concerned about their loved one’s ill health at the moment. There sure seems to be a lot of that going around…guess there always has, but it still hurts. The fear of losing someone you love while you watch them suffer…
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Productivity
“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.” —Bruce Lee Somehow, I’ve found myself if a period of intense productivity, which feels great. I no longer feel like I need to dwell on my grief, so this also feels like a kind of emergence. I’m not sure where…
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Closure
I know many of my readers have been curiously waiting for me to share the details of the meeting with the other driver, and whether it even took place. It did take place, the very morning it was planned, though we weren’t sure the wife would be there or it it would be postponed till…
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Another Grief Poem
Grief is an unexpected child, helpless, needy, hungry, desperate for my care, dying without my attention. Come from nowhere, left on a doorstep, in a basket, dropped by a stork. A baby all day in my arms, keeping us fully awake nights, whether I take her to bed with me or put her on the…
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Nifty Fifty
So…yesterday was a milestone in that it was Vernon’s first birthday post-earth. Also, he would have been 50, another major milestone. But we’ve done so much celebrate his memory over the past months, I didn’t want to make a big deal out of this. He was never big on his birthday, really. But I didn’t…
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Ice Cream (and Vernon’s Birthday)
Today would be Vernon’s 50th birthday, what a milestone! It’s also the first birthday since he died. So we know this is an important day. We want to invite everyone to eat chocolate ice cream in his honor, if you are so hungry. Here he is, just days before the end, showing how it’s done.…