Tag Archives: Loss

2018: A year of questions

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” — Zora Neale Hurston For me, 2018 has been a year that asked a lot of questions. My husband Curt and I changed jobs, moved across the country, lost his father to a stroke and said goodbye to two beloved pets. We joke that theContinue reading “2018: A year of questions”

Saying goodbye

We had to say goodbye to our 14-year-old cat Morceau today. It came as rather a shock, as last week he was skittering around the kitchen like a kitten. But death can come like this, suddenly and without warning I knew our cat Morceau before he was even born. In January of 2004, my sonContinue reading “Saying goodbye”

Mentors can teach hard lessons

I pick up the phone and a voice takes me back, three months before to a sunny day on a lake in northern Idaho. On that day, a group of graduate students and I, the lowly undergraduate, had meandered up winding roads to an A-frame summer house in the woods owned by Jim and hisContinue reading “Mentors can teach hard lessons”

Half-century mark

I turned 50 in 2017, so it seems fitting to reflect on existing for a half-century on this tiny planet in our vast universe. I’ve always felt very fortunate and grateful to be alive, because at the age of seven, no one thought I was going to make it to eight. One day I wasContinue reading “Half-century mark”

A dog’s life, in memoriam

My husband Curt and I were lucky enough to be owned by a chocolate lab named Koloa. He was a happy, go-lucky chap. He loved everyone. He loved every dog he ever met, except possibly the two pit bulls that once attacked him. He loved barking at squirrels in the yard, going for a goodContinue reading “A dog’s life, in memoriam”

An ordinary day

My father would have been 77  this week, but he passed away almost 23 years ago when he was 54. The suddenness and swiftness of his death left the whole family bereft, and we still miss him. Although he died relatively young, my father did a great many things, and some of those things IContinue reading “An ordinary day”