There are constants in life. Like the seven days of the week or the bright green flowers on the wallpaper in my mom’s kitchen or my mom herself, who insisted on correcting my sisters’ and my spelling errors on our letters home from summer camp. She’d i… Continue reading
When someone dies, courtesy dictates that we write our condolences. These letters can be some of the hardest thoughts we will put to paper, even for those of us who usually have a great facility for words. And sometimes, difficult circumstances surroun… Continue reading
For one long semester in 1974, my heart was a tomb. I didn’t know a soul on the campus of George Mason University — then, strictly a commuter college in Fairfax, Va. Despite 5,000 students milling around me, I felt like the only person on Earth. Howeve… Continue reading
When my 57-year-old husband, Dale, suddenly died of a massive heart attack on Nov. 20, 2018, two days before Thanksgiving, to say I was in shock was an understatement. More than a month later, I realized just how much my mental capacity was affected by… Continue reading
Perhaps it is fitting that the declaration was made in Paris, a city that has been honored by poets for centuries. In 1999, during its 30th General Conference, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) proclaimed that Wo… Continue reading
Illustrator Nancy Carlson vividly remembers the spring day in 2007 when she simultaneously felt like “the happiest person in the world” while at the same time experiencing an odd sensation that everything was about to change. “My husband Barry was outs… Continue reading
Elaine Pagels, 75, has lived through the best and the worst of times. She is the highly acclaimed author of a long list of scholarly, yet accessible, bestselling books, most notably The Gnostic Gospels; a renowned professor of religious history at Prin… Continue reading
Fond memories are helping the author get through the first Christmas without her mom
The post Missing Mom at Christmas appeared first on Next Avenue.
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(This article is excerpted from Anxiety: The Missing Stage of Grief by Claire Bidwell Smith.) What is anxiety? Where does it come from, and how can you gain control over it? And why is it so frequently spurred by the loss of a loved one? These are ofte… Continue reading