BY MARIA VINCA AUGUST 28, 2022 6:00 AM I remember once as a child when we had a babysitter, a rare occurrence for our family, and my siblings and I were home with a high school girl named Biffy. We were sitting around the family room playing with the TV […]

Recognizing, accepting the gifts that come from loss

BY ALICIA ANDERSON JULY 31, 2022 6:00 AM The dress we ordered for my mom to wear to my daughter’s wedding in May 2020 still hangs in the spare bedroom at my house. It is a dusty blue that brought out the lovely blue of her eyes. The only other […]

Grama’s unworn dress stirs up memories, reflection

BY JOHN VALENTIK MAY 22, 2022 6:00 AM June 19 is Father’s Day. This will mark a milestone in my life, as it’ll be my first Father’s Day as a father and my first Father’s Day without my fathers. I lost my stepfather to lung cancer on March 31, 2020. […]

Approaching a Father’s Day of firsts

BY EVELYN WALD MARCH 27, 2022 7:00 AM “How’s retirement?” This is the latest question I hear on a regular basis. On Dec. 31, 2021, I retired from my main, full-time job. I continue to work part-time for Tides and serve a small church. This was a big decision for […]

Retirement offers a new way of being

BY JANE P. BUTLER FEBRUARY 27, 2022 6:00 AM My mind is the fog on a rainy day protecting me from knowing the extent of the grief yet to come. I am in a trance with a list to finish. Checking off each item keeps sadness hidden. When all is […]

Nature’s healing promise

BY MARY CURRAN DECEMBER 26, 2021 5:00 AM Here we are celebrating our second holiday season in the midst of a pandemic and all I can think about is what life was like before we worried about masking, vaccines and hand sanitizer. Travel back in time to Christmas 2019. Ask […]

This holiday season, think of time like a river

BY EVELYN WALDNOVEMBER 28, 2021 7:00 AM I remember watching a show hosted by Art Linkletter (my age is showing!) called “Kids Say the Darndest Things.” He would ask questions and in their open, innocent way, children would respond. Their responses brought laughter and sometimes tears. For more than 17 […]

What Children Teach Us About Grief, and What They Need ...

BY BETH MCLAUGHLIN OCTOBER 24, 2021 5:00 AM After Dave, my husband, died unexpectedly in late 2015, I began to frantically look all over the house for the watch I had given him on our wedding day. It was nowhere to be found. I became fixated on its whereabouts even […]

Confronting Time’s Impact on Memories