Turning 70
In a couple of months, I will turn 70. I was nervous. Seventy sounded so old and I didn’t feel old.
You are Going to be Okay
Grieving is a messy business. It is complicated and emotionally agonizing...
Processing Grief for Mental Health
When you're grieving, it's important to check in on your mental health, look out for warning signs, and build up your resilience. Guest writer Jessica Liria, shares tips on how to do this.
Grief: Recognizing Where We Are
When I was grieving, I felt my world had stopped. My biggest adjustment was knowing that the world wouldn’t stop for me. It doesn’t stop for anyone who has lost a loved one. If you want to get back to your life, you must make changes and move along with it.
Celebrating Mother's Day After Loss
Mother’s Day recalls all things maternal – warm and wonderful hugs, children’s homemade cards, a delicious dinner, mom’s loving kisses and smiles. But Mother’s Day can be extremely challenging for children who have lost a mother.
Getting Through the Holidays After a Loss
The holidays are not necessarily a happy, merry time – especially for people whose loved one had died or left them during the past year, or even the past several years. In fact,
Why I Write About Grief
I write about grief and people ask me if I am a psychologist because of the subject matter that I write about. I am not a psychologist. I am a writer. But psychology and why people act the way they do
Teenage Pregnancy
You may know a teenage girl who has given birth, or a teen boy who has fathered a child. I do. I knew a girl who got pregnant in high school
Where do writers get ideas?
Know where to look. Where do writers get their ideas? Getting ideas is easy if you know where to look. The first place to look
Writing Bullets & Babies
Writing Bullets & Babies was a challenging book to write for several reasons. The first is two years of research material to organize into the right chronological order. Verification
Chanel No. 5: Bringing Wife's Memory Alive
Chanel No. 5. It is a perfume name that I know. I can't recall what it smells likes, yet I was married to a woman who wore it. I can recall the woman: her smile, her laugh, her facial expressions, and the way she
Widower Ponders What to Do With the Ring
Eight months after my wife Lisa died of cancer I sat on our bed staring at my gold wedding band, the symbol of our love and marriage that I still wore. I don't want to let go. I didn't want my marriage to
Thoughts on Father's Day
"You are the worst father there is," shouts Nick, my 12 year old son. My son is ranting and raving about the injustices he suffers at my rules. Rules that I ranted and raved about when I was his age. I
Eight Ways to Get Through the Holidays After a Loved One Dies
The holidays are not necessarily a happy, merry time, especially for people whose loved one has died during the past year, or even the past several years. In fact, if you're
Seven Ways to Come Back to Life After Suffering the Death of a Loved One
After suffering the death of a beloved, most of us see no possible way we can recover or ever again find any joy in living. Mental and emotional darkness engulfs us. The moment
Tips for Helping A Grieving Family Member, Friend, Co-Worker or Employee
If someone you know has experienced a loss, it will have an effect on all who come into contact with that person. If you are one of those people, you may feel uncomfortable or perhaps uncertain. "What
The Universal Reality of Death, Dying and Its Impact
Religion and politics are two subjects regarded as most abhorred in polite company, but there's one that's even more verboten: death and dying.How peculiar is that since no one is getting out of here alive?
Easter Adoption Gives Pain, Then Peace
Growing up Catholic, Easter meant dressing up for church and coloring Easter eggs and eating chocolate. Many years later, my wife Lisa and I did the same thing with our young children.