Published Articles
2020 - Jan - Gazette - Remembering with Love
Remembering with Love
I heard Mom repeat, “Oh, Joe.” I was 12 years-old, it was Halloween night 1973, and Mom was talking on the phone to my Uncle Joe. Uncle Joe was married to my mom’s sister, my...
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
2020 - Jan - CDT - Helping Hands - A New Year
A New Year
A new year can be an exciting time full of possibilities. It can also be a sad time when it means you’re saying goodbye to the last year in which a loved one lived.
At one grief ...
Thursday, January 2, 2020
2019 - Dec - Gazette - Humility
Humility
With the New Year around the corner, many of us are looking at our lives and making resolutions to change things for the better. I’m a big fan of this type of process; a process life give...
Thursday, December 26, 2019
2019 - Nov - Gazette - It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life
One of my all-time favorite movies is It’s a Wonderful Life! When I was a child, it was shown multiple times each holiday season and every time Zuzu said, “Look, Dadd...
Thursday, November 28, 2019
2019 - Nov - CDT - Helping Hands - Family Traditions
Family Traditions
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because for me it is “Christmas without the hype.” I love the focus on gratitude. I love family gathering around the dinner table. And I love ...
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
2019 - Oct - Gazette - Time for Family, Time for Talk
Time for Family Time for Talk
When I was growing up, I looked forward to Halloween. Of course the excitement of costumes and candy was part of it. But another big piece was my mom’s embrace ...
Thursday, October 31, 2019
2019 - Oct - CDT - Active Life - Healing with Love
Healing with Love
I recently had a conversation with a friend about the draw of the woods. I explained that I feel them call to me, and when I enter I take a few deep breaths, taking in the fresh ...
Sunday, October 6, 2019
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...
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