Articles about Grief

Lovingkindess

December 4, 2022

Oh, break my heart Break open, wide, and vast and unlimited Break open, as memories Of loved ones passed Flood into and radiate Deep shadows. Oh, break my heart Embrace the flash of Love. On November 18, 2022, William Ronald Pfeffer, my late husband’s brother left this side of life. As I lit the candle…

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Hush and Beauty

November 28, 2022

I’m moved to write a reflection this year, 2022, on each day of Advent, a season that ends on Christmas Eve. Two phrases are on my mind: “the hush of waiting” and “hope for finding beauty in the dark.” When my first husband, Jim, died in a car wreck on Christmas Eve in 1999, I…

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End of Watch

August 8, 2022

The funeral cortege for my niece’s husband was long.

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Brilliance in the Dark

June 12, 2020

We hunger to hold on. We hunger for firmer ground. We hunger for life. Death ignores our hungers. It flings us into the chasm of loss and blasts open the doorway to the heart of life.

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Sacrament of Dying

May 25, 2020

This morning I came across this piece, written nearly a year ago. On a day of remembering the dead of our wars, in a time of remembering the hundred thousand souls who have succumbed to COVID19…

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We Never Die Alone

March 31, 2020

My husband had died alone three days before on an icy road that curves through the mountains of West Virginia. I stood at the counter buttering toast.

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Grandpa Jim’s Rosary

March 29, 2020

Shared in honor of all those who are leaving us, stricken by the coronavirus. Shared in understanding of the pain of those left behind.

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