Time stops the moment a doctor tells you or your loved one that there isn't much they can do to prolong life. But then, the earth shatters around you, and you start to fall down, down, down swallowed up by the enormity of your grief. For me, it happened consciously the first time with my little boy Cory's leukemia diagnosis at age three. I swear the bottom dropped out of my world. I plunged ass over teakettle through space. I remember wanting to cry out, but I was alert enou

Here we are again. It is that time of year again. You may find yourself more sensitive, irritable, less patient, and sad right now. The first few years after your loss, you expect to feel poorly on birthdays and holidays - mainly because others have warned you. You don't expect it to start weeks prior, though. So, if you are feeling out of sorts more than usual, take a deep breath to calm yourself and try to focus on a happy memory of a good time that you shared with your lo

I recently traveled to Seattle for a dear friend's memorial service. I hadn't been there to visit for just a few years. I moved away ten years ago. In the last five years or so, every NW visitor to Maui that we spent time with lamented the homeless problems in Seattle. I had hoped they were exaggerating but driving around the city of my childhood and a majority of my adult life - just broke my heart. Once determined to be America's Most Livable City, now it's just tattered