My husband Paul and I took a body blow at the end of one September. We’d had a baby boy in adoptive placement in our home for two months, thinking he would be ours forever, and then one day we knew he wouldn’t. We surrendered him back to the arms of the young woman who… Continue reading The Unexpected Grace of Pumpkins
Category: Grief
A Goodbye Too Soon
My friend’s daughter died yesterday. She was a college student. I only met her a few times, but she was beautiful and she was smart and she was full of the joy of life. She had cystic fibrosis. Her lungs stopped working. Lots of CF patients have double lung transplants. Some of them have the… Continue reading A Goodbye Too Soon
Backward and Forward
Four years ago today, my mother died. Today is pretty good. Yesterday was pretty bad. Yesterday, I wanted to crawl under my desk, turn off the lights, and shut the door to my office. I didn't. I had a Dairy Queen Blizzard for lunch instead. I got home and waved the babysitter away, and stretched… Continue reading Backward and Forward
Watching Headlines
I ran by the grocery store yesterday to get a few things for Memorial Day. We're having a pretty quiet day, but my sister takes our boys to the cemetery for the 21-gun salute every year, and we have breakfast when they come back. I hadn't planned a thing, so I was picking up last-minute… Continue reading Watching Headlines
Elephants, and Friends
I got an e-mail yesterday telling me that my friend's mother, who was also my friend, died last week unexpectedly. The e-mail came from her own account, and I was used to receiving updates on her family, but the subject line was "Sheila" - her name - and I was uneasy even before I opened… Continue reading Elephants, and Friends