Our Sixth Anniversary…On the Floor, On the Road

If your husband has just died and if you are anything like me, which I hope you are not, this is how you “celebrate” your sixth wedding anniversary. PHOTO: Walking toward the light. Our wedding in Alpirsbach, Germany, six years ago. You start the day by opening your eyes, struck once again with searing grief […]

Dos and Don’ts to Help a Grieving Person

When someone (and by someone I mean me) is grieving there are certain things that can help – and other things that don’t help at all. This grief thing is a new experience for me (oh, and how it SUCKS!!!!), and knowing that many other people may too at some point suffer such a tragic […]

How – and Where – to Grieve, to Move Forward, to Start Anew

Can a place to grieve be too quiet? After three weeks of non-stop activity, travel, funerals, and hundreds of well-wishers imparting their condolences, I am back in Terlingua, Texas. Instead of being in the center of the funeral whirlwind, I am now surrounded only by nature, pure and silent — the Chisos Mountains, prickly pear […]

Three Weddings and Three Funerals

Marcus and I got married exactly six years ago. We have three anniversaries for three different weddings on two different continents: August 22, September 6, and September 20. First was the “Standesamt,” where we got the German version of our marriage license at the Rathaus (city hall) in Tiefenbronn, Germany. It was a small ceremony […]

In Loving Memory of Marcus Iken

Marcus was my husband. He was fit. He was smart. He was stylish. He was funny. He was many things. He was also a very good pie baker. And that’s about all I can say right now because I can’t see the computer screen through my tears. I loved him and will miss him so […]