Grief knows no bounds. It can be triggered when you least expect it, although most triggers are obvious and predictable. After Rick's death, I knew going into a diner, Home Depot, or Costo would be painful. I knew vacationing without ...
The words “generational trauma” are discussed in the national conversation of late. As many people open their minds about the long-term impact of our nation’s past, the subjugation of women and minorities, childhood poverty, interpersonal cruelty, and long wars on ...
Our first apartment was on a little street in Etobicoke called Callowhill drive. It was a sweet street that shared two high-rise apartments and a bunch of houses. Where kids learned to ride their bikes on the quiet laneways. Neighbours ...
I never realized that my brother-in-law – H, scrunches up his nose when he gets laughing. David used to do the same thing and it was the moment I realized they did look like brothers. We often teased H about ...
When I was 25, my father died in an accident. I was a young adult who still needed her dad. However, I was married with a toddler and with on the way. I was a college graduate and military officer ...
Several years ago I learned about International Widow's Day (June 23rd), a day set aside to recognize the hardships that widows face from loss, that fell one day after National Onion Rings Day. Even after becoming a widow in December ...
I am divorced. And I am a widow. I’m a divorced (not remarried) widow. Can those two identities co-exist? I’ve asked myself this question a lot over the past three years and I still haven’t found an answer. AJ and ...
When David died, I never knew how to answer "how are you doing?" Sometimes they would respond to their own question with "day by day, I guess, eh? Yup just day by day," why were people asking rhetorical questions? What ...
This past week, I was up at our cottage in northern Michigan, and I joined the family at nearby Ocqueoc Falls. Rick used to make fun of the falls. When I first took him there, he kept laughing as he ...
Suggestion: If you have people that count on you on a daily basis, try and get your shit together enough to be there for them at least briefly each day. If those people are your children, they need you. ...