I didn’t want a second chance. I liked my first option, the married life I’d worked on and loved for forty years. My husband Vic and I called our relationship “the Path of Marriage.” In 1967, it
Read more →Bereavement and End of Life
My mother-in-law grabbed my wrist with her gnarled hand, the way a drowning person grasps a life preserver. “I’m scared,” she said. She was lying in her bed. She’d been frantic all day, up last night and
Read more →My son’s partner Jenna had a dream last month. In her dream, My mother-in-law Virginia is dead. Jenna wipes Virginia’s face with a warm wet cloth and Virginia’s eyes pop open. Alive! Jenna is upset because Virginia
Read more →“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that have been built against it.” ~Rumi On June 3, I’ll create a ritual of remembrance for my
Read more →I asked my mother-in-law’s doctor to order a palliative care consultation when we saw him a few weeks ago. Our local Hospicare has a program called PATH (Personal Attention to Health). I was desperate for help and advice. Her
Read more →“This much I know. Everything leads to You.” Deborah Gregory, “In Full Flower” from A Liberated Sheep in a Post Shepherd World *** You were in my dream last night, healthy, waving from across the room. I
Read more →1950 Jim and I sat in the backseat, our faces out opposite windows. The wind dried our sweat into salty white stains. Daddy was sick, so our parents had pulled a tiny Airstream to Arizona for a virus-free winter. We packed
Read more →“Give my son a kiss from me,” my mother-in-law Virginia whispers. “OK, I will,” I say as I give her hand a squeeze. She wants to kiss the child who was the center of her world. There’s no use
Read more →I should have known sorrow would flood my heart. I should have known grief would grab my belly and soak my face. I should have known I’d search the crowd for my dead husband’s smile. I should have known
Read more →…there comes a time when, long after loss has been well-lived…, a small melody of love always returns.” Dreamwork with Toko-Pa For the seventh year, I gathered candles and evergreens for a Solstice Ritual. My son, daughter-in-law,
Read more →