A friend shared a post with me about something I think she expected I already knew: July is Bereaved Parents Awareness Month. No, I didn’t know that. But now that I do, this month mustn’t end without me posting this next blog. Though losing a child carries with it a kind of bereavement like no other, the deep sadness of losing someone treasured is always profoundly despairing. So, if someone you know and care about has lost or is losing a beloved, if you’ve found yourself in

Seated at the dining room table in a room flooded by afternoon light, the three of us settle into the discussion ahead. Lindsay admits to feeling anxious about painful memories she will be sharing aloud during the next hour or so. It has taken her time to make the decision to talk about Ella for this project, but she and Josh finally decide that it might somehow be helpful as they continue toward healing. Still, now that we are together, ready to actually relive details of th

This morning during my quiet, meditating time, I rediscovered poet Mary Oliver, an American treasure. I was late – I had charged myself with finally completing the dreaded “elevator pitch” for my next book, Finding Grace: journeys of grief, courage and healing. I needed some centering time before I tackled the pitch, one more time, with its required 25-words-or-less limits necessary to summarize years of work. It was then “The Journey” jumped into my lap. Never meant as a boo