BY CHRISTIAN BRADY “In like a lion, out like a lamb.” “April showers bring May flowers.” Spring is a time of dramatic changes in weather, the cold hard earth softening and bringing forth new life … and endless clichés. Spring is not only the time of nature’s rebirth, it is […]

Preparing for Transitions

Reposted from Targuman. This past month I had the great privilege to participate in an “OLLI” course with our local funeral home director, rabbi, and Orthodox priest. I was surprised that there was less I knew about the Orthodox mourning traditions, than I did about Jewish ones. One tradition was […]

Remembering the Dead

BY PAM LEHRMAN As much as we hate it, people we love die. No ifs, ands, or buts — just when. No salve can be applied. No panacea found. There’s no “right” way to grieve. No degrees conferred when, maybe, we are able to string some decent days together. One […]

The Lost and Founds of Grieving

BY PAMELA MONK Let me tell you a story. My father died in 1994. It wasn’t an easy death, he wasn’t an easy man. The official cause was septicemia, but I know it was chagrin. He was on dialysis — his kidneys failed him after years of chain smoking and […]

Stories Can Be Passed Down Like Heirlooms

BY KIMBERLY MCGINNIS What is loss? Loss is many things to many people. By definition, it is the fact or process of losing something or someone. There are many types of loss. The loss I am learning to live with is the slow process of losing a loved one to […]

Loss, Deprivation Come in Many Forms

BY EVELYN WALD In a few days, we will come to the end of 2015. For some, it may have been a good year. For others, it may have been their worst and they are more than ready to move on into 2016. What’s your story? When I was a […]

Letting Go of the Old Year

BY ELIZABETH BRADY There are many caregivers in our community that you don’t see until you need them. When our son Mack died suddenly on New Year’s Eve 2012, two weeks shy of his 9th birthday, they emerged from the darkness like the early morning shards of sunlight through the […]

Learning to Live: New Group Aims to Help Community Members ...

BY CHRISTIAN BRADY We all believe many different things over the course of our lives and our beliefs shift; much as the relentless waves alter the contours of the shore, new experiences cause us to grow and adapt. A few years ago I wrote a “This I Believe” essay about […]

I Believe in Grieving

BY BEN WIDEMAN August 28th, 2012 was the most difficult day of my life. That morning at work, I received a call from my wife. She was nearing full term of her pregnancy with our second child. She had recently been to the doctor who gave her a clean bill […]

This I Believe: I Believe in Community