Over time, I’ve thought about how I might condense grief into just a few words. This is really quite impossible. There’s just too much with grief. Grief is never a nice linear progression from one stage to the next. Nope, it’s a shift back and forth through a whole bunch of emotions and feelings. Because grief is so unique for each person, doling out hard-and-fast interpretations are risky.   Yet sometimes thinking of something in easy-to-remember terms is so helpful. That’

Recently, I read the most interesting statement. One that has sat with me the rest of the week. Words that I have returned to so many times. The words “listen” and “silent” have the same letters. They are just in a different order.

Today’s the day. Maybe you think of it as another Hallmark holiday. It’s Valentine’s Day. A day filled with so much emotion, anticipation, expectation. It’s wonderful to see the ways people want to celebrate love. I’ve talked with plenty of guys this week who are totally uncomfortable picking out something for their special someone. How many times have I heard, “You know this stuff better than do. Just pick out something pretty.” Yep, I can do that.  

Grief. It’s personal to me. In fact, I recently published a book about grief. How grief is more of a part of our lives than we often realize.   Now, try to imagine being a kid and experiencing huge amounts of grief. Like being a child or teen a losing a parent. A sibling. A significant person in their lives. Loss so big it’s impossible to begin to wrap one’s little arms around it.

I grew up in a house built in the early 1900’s. It was a big, old house. A beautiful open staircase in the front room.