Grief
Roses
Today at my grief support group, I told a story of how my dad found an offshoot from the rosebush that had sprouted near the sidewalk. That was not a good place for it to be, so he pulled it up and we replanted it in a bare spot. It was no more than a […]
Time For Time
Today I was a couple minutes late for the grief support group that I have been attending. It seems that I rush too much and we talked about it at the beginning of the session. At the end, the leader read the reflection for today. Once again, it really hit home. ‘When you become anxious […]
Go Up
Today I went to a grief support group. We were to tell about one of the things we loved the most about our loved one who died. I always loved how my dad took us on adventures. Even though I had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis since I was 4 and couldn’t physically participate well, my dad […]
Celebrating Dad’s Birthday
Today my dad would have been 92 years old. My brother who is here visiting and I wanted to honor my dad today while helping my mom have a good day. We knew it would be difficult especially for my mom. We decided to go to the cemetery in the morning. I took my mom […]
Wind Chimes
My mom and I stopped and checked the mail on our way home from Mass tonight. It included a package from some friends. They sent a beautiful card and my mom and I wept as we read the beautiful sentiments. The card was attached to a box that contained a beautiful set of wind chimes. […]
So Blessed
Today I talked with a friend whose father passed away a year ago. We shared stories, experiences, and emotions. As I thought about our conversation, I realized how many friends I have that have lost a parent just in the last year. It’s a lot. I mean there seems to be a lot of people […]
Setting My Mind Aright
I have been replaying the events of the last few weeks over and over in my head. I wonder if I could have and/or should have done something different to affect the outcome. I try to remember that I did the best I could and that God is God and I am not. Today I […]
Stress Relief
My sister came for the weekend, so I made an appointment to get a massage at the prompting of the family. I talked to the guy a little bit and told him I felt like my whole body was a big ball of tension. After only a few minutes, the massage felt so good I […]
The Great Exodus
The day after my dad’s funeral was the great exodus. I was grateful that my out of town family had stayed for 3 weeks, but it was time for everyone to make their way back home – except for one. I asked my brother if he would stay a few more days so we wouldn’t […]
Dad’s Funeral
Preparing for almost 2 weeks seemed like an agonizing wait. Then suddenly, the day came for dad’s funeral. The visitation the night before was a small gathering of good friends. Among them were my sister’s best friend from high school and some close friends of mine who also came from out of town. It was […]
Still Finding God 