It’s never easy to hear that someone you care about has died, especially if you’ve kept that person alive in your mind for a long time because a good fiction is sometimes better (well, maybe not better, but certainly easier) than the truth. For more than four years I’ve told myself that my friend Barbara … Continue reading For Barbara…
Category: Grief
Writing Out Loud
I started writing him a letter today, but I remembered when someone suggested years ago, right after he died, that I go to a card shop and pick out the Father’s Day card I would have chosen for him for his first Father’s Day. I didn’t do it because it felt silly and because I … Continue reading Writing Out Loud
Firsts (the Holiday edition)
Last weekend, two of my four grandkids came to stay for a few nights – the oldest, Claire, who is 12, and the youngest, Audrey, who is 6. I live in a small house with only one spare bed in my office, a twin, and an air mattress for company. With floor space at a … Continue reading Firsts (the Holiday edition)
Remembering 9-11
I wrote this column a week after the 9-11 attacks in 2001, when I worked for The Clarion News. Reading it again today, on the 18th anniversary, I vividly recall the fear, confusion, sadness, and anger almost everyone in this country felt that day. Some things you can never not feel or see no matter … Continue reading Remembering 9-11
Sometimes We’re Our Own Guardian Angels
Have you ever put on your spring jacket after a long winter and found a $5 bill in the pocket? Or looked in the glove box for a pair of sunglasses and found a Hershey Kiss? That’s Past Us taking care of Present Us. We don’t plan those little surprises; they just work out that … Continue reading Sometimes We’re Our Own Guardian Angels
Chelsea Handler Made Me…Cry?
Chelsea Handler has made me gasp in disbelief (“OMG, did she just SAY that out loud?”) and laugh until I cry. But never has anything she’s written or said made me cry cry, as in, real tears of sorrow. On Monday, Handler was on the NPR show Here and Now promoting her new book, Life … Continue reading Chelsea Handler Made Me…Cry?
Thin Places
How this happened, I don’t know, but I’d never heard of “thin places” before this morning. (And I’m not talking about skinny.) I was listening to Nikki Mirghafori’s weekly Happy Hour guided meditation. The topic was thin places. As she was explaining what it is, I started to tear up, realizing that I was in … Continue reading Thin Places
“I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want…”
Forgive me if that obnoxiously grating song becomes your earwig today. It has been going through my head all day as I work on this new year blog. What do I want? What do I really, really want in 2019? Every year, I want the lofty and obvious: I want world peace; I want an … Continue reading “I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want…”
Grief Really Shouldn’t End. Here’s Why.
Recently, the husband of a dear friend was killed when a tree limb fell on him while he was working in his yard. A freak and random accident, it has left my friend stunned and so very, very sad. I’ve written many times in this blog about grief, and how it bounces in and out … Continue reading Grief Really Shouldn’t End. Here’s Why.
Things
I listened to a heartbreaking interview on WBUR's Here & Now on Wednesday with a woman named Katy Brogan, who last week lost her home in the Pawnee wild fire in Northern California. She offered a raw and honest account of her experience, including her bewildering feelings about the things she and her family lost, … Continue reading Things
Lynn Haraldson, Author and Writing Mentor 