My publisher asked me to identify ten quotes from Swimming with Maya for promotional blurbs. OK, I thought to myself, how hard can that be? But I delayed, blaming it on the demands of the holidays. Finally, on New Year’s Day, I sat down with a hardback copy of my book...
Their smiles kill me. A six year old’s gap-tooth grin flashes on the TV screen and I sob. As a grieving parent with 20 years of experience – and believe me, grief is a job - I mourn knowing there’s always more in the bank of tears. The mass killing in Newtown...
Let me count the ways. In reverse order of importance, they are: 5. The Food. OMG. My friend Karen Hester makes the most amazing pies, including a crumbly topped apple pie and yummy pumpkin with whipped cream. This year, I made a yam, pineapple, and apple casserole....
I first met Madeline Sharples at a writing workshop at Esalen. I was immediately drawn to her calm, empathetic manner, her beauty, and her poems. We quickly learned that we shared some important life experiences - we were both grieving mothers and both of us were...
Maya’s 19-year-old heart was keeping Fernando alive but as I held him I realized in a new, deeper way that Maya herself was never coming back.
Maya had a vibrant smile, a ready laugh, and spark of mischief in her deep brown eyes. She challenged life as well as loved it – and she was the same with me, racing from hugs to arguments. If she had lived, today would have been her 40th birthday. She lived life fast...
Last year in this country more than 6,500 grieving families said yes to organ donation. For 2011 we know many thousands more will give the gift of life. Among them: the family of Christina Taylor Green, the youngest person to lose her life in the Tuscon shootings....
Hieroglyphs for Meghan I bob and weave in the winter-laden street retracing the hill I climbed each night to bring on labor. When I step back and squint I see the rooms that sheltered us exposed to raw December. Pale and clammy, our house has shrunk. The siding’s gone...
In the last 24 hours I have learned of two families who recently lost young children - their tragedies came at me out of the blue. I find myself wishing I could sit with the parents and listen to their stories. Since my 19-year-old daughter died suddenly in 1992,...
Everyone seems to tap friends for money to cure AIDS, leukemia, or breast cancer - or in my case, cystic fibrosis. Lately, I've been raising funds to support a walk-a-thon sponsored by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Why CF? Because my 22-month-old neighbor Lily has...