with complete Dear Michaela blog
I took the photo above on a trip through the detour around the California wildfires last summer. It looked like even the sun was on fire. I didn't live anywhere near the fires, although I did live near enough that the Bay Area was covered with smoke that pushed air quality into hazardous ranges that... Continue Reading →
The following is from my previous blog, and was originally published in July 2017. In nine days I will have finished chemotherapy. It has not been nearly what I’d feared it would be. The side effects were subtle. The nausea was fairly easily controlled with medication. I got one mouth sore, and my fingertips cracked... Continue Reading →
November 18th, 29 years ago, an eternity and yet a brief moment, marks the last happy, innocent day I spent with you, Michaela. What did we do that day? How could my memory of the day after be so sharp, but that last happy day be washed away? It was the last day of school... Continue Reading →
November is flying by! Already the baby shower for my son and daughter-in-law is upon me, and trip number one by my daughter and her husband from Oregon! How will I ever get the house clean in time, and is it even possible to wrap this box? Then at the end of November is not... Continue Reading →
Deep grief does terrible things to you. It's like an earthquake deep in your soul: everything tumbles and falls out of place. You are literally broken. There are about as many responses to this as there are people who grieve. Somehow, once the dust settles and you can see a little more clearly, you have to... Continue Reading →
In nine days I will have finished chemotherapy. It has not been nearly what I'd feared it would be. The side effects were subtle. The nausea was fairly easily controlled with medication. I got one mouth sore, and my fingertips cracked and peeled. I have a tiny bit of nerve damage in three fingertips on... Continue Reading →
A song for you, Michaela.with love from mom
In just a little over a month, it will be the 28th anniversary of Michaela's kidnapping. Every year for a long while now I have gone to the market where she was kidnapped and have tied ribbons on the tree that is planted at the parking spot where she was kidnapped, and I have issued... Continue Reading →
I guess I should first confess that I know pretty much nothing about Zen. I have attended exactly one class in Zen meditation, and didn't entirely get it. Meditation has always been extraordinarily difficult for me. My mind does not like to be still. AT ALL. I cannot stand in line somewhere without pulling out... Continue Reading →
