My Take on Holiday Sadness A huge hurt builds inside me. My father died on Christmas Day 1986. It is a familiar, old hurt. This past year freshly layered that hurt with new hurts and loss. All four of my brothers have passed on. One in 1998, another in 2005. Mom died in […]
Yearn
Yearn is a great prompt! Plain and simple, and evocative. What have you yearned for in your life? A lost boyfriend in your teen years? A baby in your 30s when you really wanted to conceive? A holiday from long ago when you are home alone for that holiday, and your family is all gone? […]
Pop Culture, Pandemics, and Death
Okay, this might be a bit morbid for some who do not like to think about the physical aspects and aftermath of death, but it is something most of us will face. Unfortunately, the current world pandemic started my thoughts spinning through, “If This Goes On…” (a Heinlein title) processes. So here we are. Remember […]
Grounding Grief as Memory
Memory changes its character once death claims a person or people with whom a memory was shared. Grieving individuals or families tell stories about the deceased to solidify and reinforce a narrative of the dying or dead person. As someone is dying, or after someone in the family dies, a consensually created memory emerges. Sometimes […]
Creating, and Breaking, Life Patterns
by Su Swanne A few years back, as I was growing up emotionally, I read the book Motherless Daughters by Hope Edelman. This book provided so much understanding about how my mother was shaped by the lack of a mother, and therefore, how my own life was influenced by her losses. March 2016 is Women’s […]
When Christmas Hurts
A huge hurt builds inside me. My father died on Christmas Day 1986. It is a familiar, old hurt. This year it is freshly layered with new hurts and loss. Five months ago the my last living brother died. He was the eldest of my siblings. 13 months ago my brother who was closest to […]