Even in joy there is a shadow of sorrow once you have experienced great loss. This week that shadow hung over me as I prepared to depart the plane at SeaTac to visit my dad. I knew ahead of me in the airport was the spot I had stood when I first realized my mother was dying over four years ago. In January of 2011 I stood outside the gates at … [Read more...]
Upon Goodbye
It is nearly impossible to think of you in the past tense. Your life is colorfully woven into the fabric of ours. I know you are gone, I saw you leave, but in my memory you are vividly alive, with your mischievous smile teasing the corners of your mouth. Saying “she was…” doesn’t fit comfortably on my tongue yet because you left bold … [Read more...]
Present at the First & Last Breathe of Life
I’ve been the strong one stroking the belly of a loved one filled with cancer. The cancer so advanced that I could feel it under his thin skin as I promised him that it was okay to die that day, and reassured him that we would carry on. I stood there in the room hours later as the last breath escaped his body relieved that his pain was over and … [Read more...]
In Memory :: Grandma Mohs
In the first moments alone with the realization that yesterday my grandmother took her last breath, my clearest memory of her flooded my mind. The image I had was of her outstretched arms reaching to hold my face in her hands. Her face was wide open as if she could engulf me in her smile. A kiss sat ready on her lips as she pulled me towards her … [Read more...]
