The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: loss

  • Big Fat Facts

    I’ve been set up for failure my whole life.

  • The Winnowing

    Getting married teaches you who your friends really are.

  • What Took You So Long?

    It’s heartbreaking when a beloved dog dies. People who don’t have pets don’t understand, really. They become like your children. Only, if you lose a child, there’s a vast support network. When you lose a dog, people expect you to snap out of it. They nervously offer up something about the Rainbow Bridge, and then…

  • Creative Expressions of Grief

    I had the distinct honor of participating in a reception for The Healing Center the other day. It’s a grief support community here in Seattle that is a welcoming and safe place to express your feelings of loss. They have been wonderfully helpful and understanding to me. The reception, which is held annually, is called…

  • The Silhouettes of Seattle

    Back in November, I started seeing these 4 foot tall white silhouettes of people at seemingly random spots throughout Seattle. I had no idea what they represented. I kept making a mental note to find out, but I’d always forget by the time I got home. One is attached to a telephone pole down the…

  • Grieving through the Holidays

    If you’ve lost someone you love, the holidays can be a particularly painful time. All those memories. All those traditions. All those people, still alive, who insist that you to carry on all those traditions. How can you be expected to decorate a tree when every ornament reminds you of the person you’ve lost? And…

  • The Majority Minority

    The other day I was listening to an interview on National Public Radio. The woman who was speaking was a refugee from Yemen who had to flee that country under a hail of bullets, and had lost everything she ever had. She was discussing how hard it had been to get out of the country,…

  • Unintentional Hauntings

    Do you drive an old, beat up, red Ford F150 pickup truck? If so, and if by some coincidence you’ve passed me on the street, you may have seen my look of pain as I’ve gazed intently at you. It’s not your fault. It’s just that you drive the exact vehicle my late boyfriend did,…

  • Last Day

    Late last year my favorite person in the whole world had a stroke. Ever since then she’s had several seizures, another stroke, and has been in and out of comas. When she did come to, she was completely confused, and, basically, “not there”. Although her body lingered on, I was already mourning the loss of…

  • Shakti

    I was whining to a friend the other day about how completely and utterly low and defeated I feel. Half of it has to do with this cold or sinus infection or whatever it is that I have. The other half is that I’m coping with losses on just about every front. I feel as…