Category: bittersweet life

Secondary Losses

Grief is complicated because it is not only the death of the person you love but also the secondary losses that come with death. Nothing prepares you for the excruciating pain that accompanies death. However, it’s the unexpected secondary losses that nobody really talks about. They include changes to finances, friendships, family relationships, identity, and…… Continue reading Secondary Losses

I’m Thinking…

A Moment of Joy From the Spring, 2022 I bought “Writing Down the Bones Deck” cards by Natalie Goldberg so I would have writing prompts when needed. Writing is a therapeutic way to express my feelings, especially when they are overwhelming. So this is the first prompt. What I’m thinking of is that it’s a…… Continue reading I’m Thinking…

Adjusting to the Unexpected

This year has been a reminder of how fragile life is and that you can’t take anything for granted. Having lived through the death of both my parents and then catching COVID a month after my dad died was overwhelming. Little did I know that two weeks after recovering from COVID, I would have to…… Continue reading Adjusting to the Unexpected

Grief Landscape

One of the prompts that I had in Writing You Grief was to write how your landscape had changed. When I was a child, I would watch scary movies that always seemed to have quicksand in them. I was always terrified of falling into quicksand, though I didn’t live in an area where there was…… Continue reading Grief Landscape

Grief Interrupters

The other day I walked into the garage because I had an appointment. As the garage door was going up, water was dripping from it. There was water on the floor and a strange hissing sound that I couldn’t place. As I walked around the car, I saw water spraying out of two holes in…… Continue reading Grief Interrupters

Because You Loved Me

My parents and husband are the three most influential people who shaped the woman I am today. Each of them lives on in me today as I wander the world without them. So I chose to write about how each of them continues to shine through the person I am today. Mom, the world can…… Continue reading Because You Loved Me

I Remember…

Some of the prompts I’ve had in “Writing Your Grief” have been challenging. This one was to pick a simple object and let your mind run with it. The first problem was picking an article. There were suggestions, but none of them resonated with me. For several days, I would look at the prompt, then…… Continue reading I Remember…

How My Heart Is

“The prompt from””Writing Your Grief” is to write about the condition of my heart. I sat with it for a few days, trying to get a sense of where I am right now. The first image that came to me was the desert. “The prompt from “Writing Your Grief” is to write about the condition…… Continue reading How My Heart Is

Living in Two Worlds

“The trick, if there is one, is to maintain both: wonder and sadness, curiosity and grief. Joy and the absence of joy. Overcome by neither, open to both.” I’m using this quote from “Writing Your Grief” as a jumping-off point to write on melancholy because I’ve learned to live in a world of both/and.  Grief…… Continue reading Living in Two Worlds

Smoldering Ache of Loss

Smoldering means smoke with no flames.  Flames are the roar of death, either sudden or expected.  Both hurt.  The smoke is the pain left behind, filling my lungs until I can barely breathe.  Mike’s sudden death smoldered in my mind and heart for years as I learned to live without him.  After the first two…… Continue reading Smoldering Ache of Loss