Just before our fortieth wedding anniversary in 2008, I drive my husband Vic to Strong Hospital where he’s being treated for lymphoma. The long drive is familiar after two years. Spring-green hillsides shout May vitality and hope,
Read more →Bereavement and End of Life
In 2010, eighteen months after my husband died, I longed for relief from constant sorrow, so joined three friends for an adventure to Gasparilla Island, Florida. Instead of sunshine and warmth, we faced unusually cold, cloudy weather,
Read more →“I’m afraid to die,” Vic said. His raspy voice was soaked with despair. I rubbed his tight shoulders while he leaned into me, his head resting against my heart. “I meditated and studied with wise teachers for
Read more →October 1994 Dearest E, While walking up the stairs tonight I was forcefully struck by what a precious gift
Read more →“Will you meditate with me?” he asks. I’d said yes for many years. Chemotherapy was ordered hours ago. Salvage chemo. A cursed name That hasn’t yet arrived. I have nothing left to give. At 3 AM that
Read more →In 1974, David greeted his newborn brother with joy and a dripping nose. I decided their first meeting was more important than the risk of a snot-filled infant. My husband Vic took photos as I put little
Read more →Last winter, I received an email from Mike Goncalves. Mike wrote that he manages a British band called “Our Hollow, Our Home.” Their songwriter and vocalist Tobias Young had been moved by my TEDx talk after
Read more →I loved his body in tight black motorcycle leathers. I loved his keen mind and tender heart. He smelled like All-Spice deodorant mixed with an acrid trace of two-cycle motorcycle oil. He broiled steak and baked potatoes,
Read more →The funeral home owner called me after my mother-in-law’s death on Thursday. I’d prearranged for him to pick up her body and deliver it to the crematorium since this was her wish, but I had to identify
Read more →“Her breath is changing,” a nurse said on the phone. “It’s hard to tell, but I’d come in if I were you.” When I saw my mother-in-law, still and ashen in her bed, I knew she was
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