“My Subaru was stuck in mud, sliding downhill backwards into a garbage-filled swamp. I was in the driver’s seat, but when I tried to drive forward, the car slid farther back. As my tires and car sank deeper in the muck, I didn’t know if I could save the car or myself.”  I woke up […]

“You’ll figure it out,” Vic said, gently pulling me into a long hug. He wasn’t interested in making decisions about my life after his death. He trusted me and had no interest in planning his funeral or my future. I’d handled the finances for years, but fretted about where I would live without him. “I […]

Each night around 9 pm, Disco watches my every move. Her eyes say, “Isn’t it time to go upstairs so I can put my head on your belly while you read? Isn’t it time to snuggle?” I’ve had dogs since I was a child, but never slept with a dog on my bed. I’ve never […]

Snow blanketed the air beyond the porch, erasing the driveway and road. Wind howled, the temperature neared zero, and it was almost dark, but Vic wasn’t home. Was he in a ditch somewhere? If he left work at the usual time and drove our Subaru up the steep hills, he should have been home half […]

It’s morning. I walk downstairs and find a note taped on the glass door leading to the back porch. It’s a rectangle of construction paper, dull, dusty black. The note says “Elaine” in silver ink in my dead husband Vic’s handwriting. I look out the window, beyond the porch and across the yard, and see […]

After watching a video clip of armed people swarming the U.S. Capitol, breaking windows, and rampaging through halls and offices, I heard John Lennon’s lyrics repeat like a mantra in my head. “All we are saying is give peace a chance.” I remembered a tense protest against the Vietnam War in Washington DC in October […]