You see them everywhere today. On this special day of heart-shaped ballons and heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, couples stroll hand-in-hand, couples sit gazing at one another over candlelight, couples on social media post their photos proclaiming their years of love for one another, and even shy highschoolers cast loving glances then quickly look away hoping […]
Letter: I Laughed So Hard It Hurt
We gathered last evening for our weekly dinner together, as many of our family as could make it. Slightly less than 11 months ago we had all been here bedside in the family room to say a most tearful goodbye to my wife of 50 years, mother of four, grandmother of 10. There in the […]
Letter: Before The Sun Sets On Our Lives
He was king with numerous opportunities to rule well during his eight year reign. But he had not. He had achieved nothing for his country or people that qualified as a distinguishable accomplishment of merit. Nothing. The people he had ruled were glad when he departed. “He passed away to no one’s regret,” read one […]
Letter: Today Is A Very Special Day
I spent a great amount of time yesterday continuing to clear out the basement. Nine months after losing my wife of 50 years I decided it was time. So, for the last few weeks I have been bringing box after box, after box up the stairs, sorting through what the kids might want, what should […]
Letter: One Cup Where There Used to Be Two
A twice-broken heart, an anticipated future that does not come to fruition, dreams dashed, one cup where there used to be two, where to go, what now? David of biblical history answers. ‘My times are in your hands. You will hide me in the shadows. There, as under the arbor, I will find safety, and […]
Letter: The Two Guests
As purposeful as weeping is to the one grieving the loss of a loved one, so needful are the thorns on the rose blooming in the garden. Introspection for the sufferer, protection for the flower. “It takes all sorts of weathers to make a year, and all tend to the same issue, of ripened harvests […]
Letter: The Stepping Stones of Suffering
We were there to repair the stepping stones and bricks that comprised the path through the gardens. However, a storm was brewing. Miles out to sea the ominous black mountain of clouds had gathered. Even from where we stood, we could see cascading down its sides a grey avalanche of drenching rain. The sun, the […]
Letter: ImPACT
She was attractive – tall, a redhead, and slender. Like a flower in a greenhouse, peeking down the road, she had flagged down the passing motorist. That’s when the nightmare began. Now she stood in a long line of mostly women in a hallway running past courtrooms. At the very end of that tunnel comprised of […]
Letter: ‘Ditto’ As Used With Devotion
The day before Valentine’s Day, one year ago, the Oncologist turned from the computer screen where she had been reading my wife’s report, and she said, looking at my wife laying there on the tilted-back exam chair and then at me sitting nearby, holding my wife’s hand: “You’ve reached the end of the journey. You’ve […]