We’re all interconnected, and no one event affects just one person. The degree of impact changes based on a variety of factors - usually the closeness of the relationship and the physical proximity are two big factors. When there is a death, or another life-altering transition, we can use rings...

I’m assuming that all of us have relationships we must maintain that are missing the feeling of mutual adoration. There are people in our lives where we are connected to through physical proximity, work, family or social connections where we both know that we don’t like each other but we...

This is the second part in a short series on the end of my dad's life. For part one, click here.    Late January, 2004 My dad's room is dim. The light that diffuses in from the hallway mixes with the glow from the various machines that are connected to his...

December | 2003 The gravel crunches after I shift to drive and we slowly begin the descent down our driveway. The roles are reversed. Instead of my dad driving me to a sleepover while we listen to classical music or Fat Bottomed Girls, I am now his chauffeur. I don't choose any background...

This is part II of a series in honor of Children’s Grief Awareness Day. Part I, on helping children grieve with remembrance books, may be found here.  Death and grief are notoriously awkward subjects for most adults. We are caught up in what to say and how to say it. We never...

This Thursday, November 15th, marks Children’s Grief Awareness Day. One in five children will experience the death of someone close to them by the time they are 18. I was a child when my dad died (well, at 20 I wasn’t technically a child - but I certainly felt like one)....

Grief, in some form or another, will stay with you forever.  For me, the characteristics of raw grief fade over time — but it can take years. I didn't know this when my dad died, and figured I'd be terribly sad...forever. But that wasn't the case. I was forever changed. I will forever...

   This probably reads to you like how my 10th-grade yearbook inscriptions read to me. A list of scrawled inside jokes that have no meaning. These are my dead sister triggers. They're contained in an invisible balloon that follows me wherever I go - whether I'm scrolling through Instagram and see a photo...

Helpful facts: My older sister, Alison, died unexpectedly on August 9, 2017. On the morning of August 10th, I sent an email and made a social media post about her death.  What follows are some examples of the types of responses I received (and what I was thinking when I read...