Category: Grief
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After the Storm
While much of the southeast suffers from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, I am only without power/Internet. My biggest problems are no coffee and having to read a good book by candlelight instead of watching Netflix. I have no frame of reference for a third-world country, but I do know what it’s like to need…
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Grief Is Strange
It’s odd how grief hides and then pops up in unexpected ways and places. Like the other day when I was getting ready to host a small party for a friend. I got down my great-grandmother’s platter which always held the Thanksgiving turkey and suddenly a memory hit me. “I’m going to cry,” I said…
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Restorative Yoga
I first experienced yoga in the 1970s by watching a show on ETV. Besides learning basic poses, I heard, “You’re as young as your spine is flexible.” I was in my mid-twenties and although that phrase didn’t have much meaning then, it stuck with me. Throughout the years I dropped in and out of yoga…
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On Mother’s Day, After Losing a Child
It’s not my first Mother’s Day since my son died. And yes, I guess it gets easier. But it’s never without reflection. Only two people referenced it to me yesterday. Most seem to think it’s better if they don’t remind me, so that I can “move on with my life.” I am living my life,…
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Then there’s the aging pet
My granddog is visiting this week. Pippen came into our lives in the second year of my son’s illness, riding home from North Carolina as a tiny pup lying on John’s thigh. She was his constant companion until his death nine years later. Since then she’s lived primarily with my daughter and her family, along…
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Ever tried acupuncture?
In December my lower back/hip hurt. A massage therapist helped a lot and encouraged me to get acupuncture. Since I am pretty steeped in traditional health care, I first messaged my rheumatologist to ask her opinion. (I have arthritic stenosis.) She responded with a referral to physical therapy and a prescription for a steroid. (I…
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A Healing Crisis
I planned to get this blog site up six months ago, but circumstances prevented that from happening. In those months I completely retired, started an energetic exercise program, began hospital volunteering, and engaged in a committed relationship (for the first time in many years). And I ended up in the hospital physically and emotionally broken…
Our Aging Selves 