Published Articles
2022 - June - Gazette - Releasing Regrets
Releasing Regrets
My understanding of forgiveness expanded in a new way many years ago when our children were younger. It was one afternoon in our home when we had a playdate with another family. ...
Thursday, June 30, 2022
2022 - May - Gazette - Embrace the Journey
Embrace the Journey
I was facilitating a grief support group and discussing Alan Wolfelt’s six needs of mourners – acknowledge the reality of the death; embrace the pain of the loss; remember the ...
Thursday, May 26, 2022
2022 - April - Gazette - How Many Children Do You Have?
How Many Children Do You Have?
“How many children do you have?” Thankfully, for most people, this question has an easy answer. But for the parents of the one in four pregnancies in this country th...
Thursday, April 28, 2022
2022 - March - Gazette - A Walk with Grief
A Walk with Grief
My husband and I went for a “four-season” walk at Spring Creek Canyon a few weeks ago. When we arrived, it was overcast, foggy, rainy and cold – it felt like winter. After about ...
Thursday, March 31, 2022
2022 - March - CDT - Active Life
Moving Your Grief Through Writing
I set my timer for 10 minutes and they all began to write on unlined white paper. At this grief education and support gathering, the participants were either answ...
Sunday, March 13, 2022
2022 - February - Gazette - Feeding Your Soul
Feeding Your Soul
For many years, I’ve had sensitivities to different foods. For example, I don’t eat pizza. When our kids were younger this resulted in a few humorous moments when they saw other ...
Thursday, February 24, 2022
2022 - February - CDT - Helping Hands
A character in Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Book of Longings, made a statement that jumped off the page and has resonated with me since. A brother said to his sister, “Your grief will come. Let it be ...
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Previous Posts
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...
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 ...
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...
2023 - September - Centered - Arriving Where I Started
I love the T.S. Eliot quote, from “Little Gidding,” Four Quartets:
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for t...
2023 - September - Gazette - Existing Elsewhere
A few years ago I sat with a handful of adults’s in a grief gathering and listened as one mother shared her story. She told us about the moments before and after her young child’s unexpected and su...
2023 - September - Town & Gown - End-of-Life Doulas, Graveside Journaling, and Sponsoring Memorials from Afar
We hope you read the September Town & Gown article by Holly Riddle featuring End-of-Life Doula Jackie Naginey Hook.
2023 - August - Gazette - Surrender Your Soul
Surrender Your Soul
A couple of weeks ago, I stepped onto the deck of our cabin at Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park, British Columbia. It was early morning and the sun had just risen from behind...