What does success in coping with death mean to you? Does it mean you can now walk your dog through the neighborhood and actually look up and smile as people go by?  Does it mean you went and bought flowers for the oak barrel that has been neglected for the past year? Does it mean you made chocolate chip cookies for the first time in God knows how long?  Or did you just go for a ride without crying or talk to your kids about something stupid and inconsequential?

      There are no…

Losing anyone sets you on the path of going through stages that only you can determine. However, the promise that you will get through them and come out of the tunnel into the sunlight is somewhere in the back of your mind.  Most people come through in time.  The promise of being happy is so alluring that it cannot help but generate an interest in moving forward.

~Mike

Spirit

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First, I had to learn to love myself and to define myself individually without the “couple-ness” that was so easy to hide behind in the past.  I had to set the boundaries I was willing to work within, and most importantly, picture what I was supposed to be like when I became the new me.  I know now that I was functioning without a base of my own.  I believe grief’s job is to knock out your foundation so you never feel steady on your feet.  When that happens, though, confusion, fright, and…