2024 - March - CDT - Helping Hands - A Walk with Grief
A Walk with Grief
I’ve become keenly aware of the dual process model of grief lately. This model involves oscillation between loss-oriented and restoration-oriented responses to grief. Sometimes a...
Read More >>
2024 - March - Gazette - Dad, Death, Daffodils, Ducks, Cardinals, and Comfort
Dad, Death, Daffodils, Ducks, Cardinals, and Comfort ...
My 93-year-old dad died on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. When I left you in my February column, he was working hard to get his strength back aft...
Read More >>
2024 - February - Gazette - How Old Would You Be?
How Old Would You Be?
How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were? When I ask this question, I get a variety of reactions. Some people laugh and say, “I’d be the age I am.” Others loo...
Read More >>
2024 - January - CDT - Learning to Live: What's Your Story? - Grief as a Funeral Director
Grief as a Funeral Director
Ten years ago, on February 1, 2014, my wife Margie died. We were married for 50 years and eight months, and I still think of her every day. I always have a picture of h...
Read More >>
2024 - January - Gazette - Love Your Heart
Love Your Heart
Children can be great role models for adults, in all kinds of ways. For example, when it comes to the grief journey, I have a special place in my heart for the funeral and memorial...
Read More >>
2023 - December - Gazette - Let's Remember
Let’s Remember
Just a few days ago our family received a large tin of popcorn as a holiday gift. One-half of the tin was filled with caramel corn, one-quarter with buttered popcorn, and one-quarte...
Read More >>
2023 - December - CDT - Learning to Live: What's Your Story?
Expectant Waiting
It was Christmas Eve 1993 and my husband, John, and I were spending the holidays at my parent’s house in Austin, Texas. I was doing my daily meditation when these words came into...
Read More >>
2023 - November - Gazette - Dare! Silence
A lot goes on in the silence.” These are words I often share because silence is a big part of my work. For example, I ask for moments of silence when officiating at memorial and funeral services. D...
Read More >>
2023 - Nov - CDT - Helping Hands - Healing Through the Holidays
Healing through the Holidays
Author, poet, and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou, wrote, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” I witness this every day in my work ...
Read More >>
2023 - October - Gazette - Memories Become Treasures
Memories Become Treasures
I was visiting with my mom and dad a couple of weeks ago and we started talking about my dad’s parents, who I lovingly called Grandma and Grandad. My mom shared two memor...
Read More >>
View All
