The holiday season is one of joy, and fun, and celebrating, and family togetherness! BUT, let's face it, it's also one of the most stressful times of year, with so many things "to do," cold and flu season creeping in, weather changes, decorating, preparing, finals...
Birthdays and death anniversary days have been on my mind. Monday was my sister, Shannon’s, birthday. She would have been thirty-nine. Thirty-nine! It’s hard to imagine. She’s forever frozen in my memory at thirty-one. My youngest sister, Miki, who died twenty-two years ago, is forever frozen...
I am no stranger to death and suicide. My sister died of an overdose of alcohol and acetaminophen in 2007, leaving behind her two young sons whom my husband and I are now raising. We’d already lost my brother-in-law to skin cancer just months before,...
Life. It sure can be demanding. It sure can be beautiful. It’s a paradox, isn’t it? As I’ve said before, we can learn to “live in the paradox;” it's how we grow (This is How We Grow, p. 59). It’s where I’m living now. The Paradox...
We have some exciting things happening with my recently released bestselling memoir, This is How We Grow, and I'd like to share them with you! GoodReads Giveaway! First, we've just started an exciting giveaway. I am giving away 10 Autographed copies of This is How We Grow through...
An Invitation to YOU! Join my This Is How We Grow Blog Hop! (in honor of my new book, by the same name!) Theme: "I choose to grow." I’ve certainly had my share of life challenges, many of which I share in my new memoir, This Is How...
[caption id="attachment_1266" align="alignleft" width="300"] My sister, Shannon, and I at ages 3 and 4. I miss and love her dearly every day.[/caption] I love this picture of my sister, Shannon, and me. I have it in a frame in my living room. Only 16 months apart,...
Like the changing seasons, loss comes to all, whether through death, illness, children leaving home, loss of career or money, divorce, miscarriage, infertility, trauma, or even the symbolic losses of identity, innocence, or security. Each primary loss carries secondary losses, such as the loss of...