What we celebrate today as Halloween has its origins in the Celtic festival of Samhain, when people lit bonfires, told ghost stories, and dressed in costumes to ward off ghosts. It was celebrated on October 31 (the day before the Celtic New Year on November 1) as the final celebration of the harvest before winter….
For six months I have lived with the terror of fearing that I may have done something or not done something that contributed to or caused Lizzy’s death. For six months, people surrounding me have gone down countless theoretical rabbit holes trying to define the “what-ifs” and “what-could-have-beens” that may, given the butterfly effect, have…
“Although we know that after such a loss the acute state of mourning will subside, we also know we shall remain inconsolable and will never find a substitute. No matter what may fill the gap, even if it be filled completely, it nevertheless remains something else. And actually that is how it should be. It…
I have days where I hide from Lizzy. I hide from her toys, her clothes, her pictures. I hide from my cell phone background that has a picture of us laughing at the lavender farm. I hide from thoughts and memories of her. I hide because I must stop what I am doing and grieve…
I’m not entirely sure why, but I am very occupied with defining grief, as though understanding grief and its stages will somehow make this process easier. And no, I don’t need to be told how unlikely this is. I feel that the most complicated thing about grief is that the source of that which brought…