Through the Veil

Sadness is usually uncomfortable. We like comfort. I have been avoiding grief and filling myself with distraction. But there comes a time when it will not be ignored.  Sometimes it overflows. Sometimes, I welcome it.  Do you ever want to just sit in sadness? To embrace it, keep it close to you? Because it holds …

second year of mourning

It is a curious thing when the unusual feels familiar. The sharp chill of a late February rain—in Minnesota. It isn’t supposed to happen, but you still recognize it, like an old friend. As if it were a memory.  The way dull light filters through gray clouds can make mid-afternoon feel like early morning. How …

Much to be Thankful For

It has been the hardest year, and yet, I have much to be thankful for. We have had our struggles with health and finances. Yet, somehow we've survived. I have much to be thankful for. This year has seen moments of exhaustion I'd only ever imagined. I am perpetually faced with mountains of laundry, endless stacks …

a hard year

This has been a hard year. The hardest so far of my nearly 28 years. The last twelve months have seen a number of health issues, which taken on their own would not amount to much. But, coming as they had, consecutively for months, it wore us thin. Then, your fairly average, run-of-the-mill financial issues you might …

Smilies and metaphors

Losing someone unexpectedly  feels a little like running your fingertips over a gravel road at 60 miles per hour. The pain, intense at first, rips into layer after layer of skin and nerve endings. It peels through the top layers the ones you can see, and then burns into new ones before you ever get …