Tag: grief
What I Want You to Know About Blood
The blood flows everywhere. It drips into the sink and onto the floor. It soaks into paper towels filling up the trash cans in the bathroom and the kitchen. It dribbles down onto your shirt. You stand on the toilet and lean out over… Continue Reading “What I Want You to Know About Blood”
What I Want You to Know About Rowing a Boat
The oars drop into the water in near unison. We push our bodies backward with our legs and pull the handles to our chests. We slide the handles down against our bodies, lifting the blades out of the water. We lean forward and drop… Continue Reading “What I Want You to Know About Rowing a Boat”
What I Want You to Know About 9/11
“Are you OK?” I ask you. You scratch gently again at your cheek, which is reddening a little from your touch, and then your hand jerks back toward your ear where it finds another itch to scratch. “I’m fine,” you say, but you don’t… Continue Reading “What I Want You to Know About 9/11”
What I Want You to Know About Back to School Night
I stand outside the door to your classroom, peeking around the other parents lined up ahead of me to sign in, as if this is a new ride at Disneyland. I am just excited to see where it is you’ve been spending your days… Continue Reading “What I Want You to Know About Back to School Night”
What I Want You to Know About BTS
A couple of weeks after your mom died we were on our way to get some dinner when BTS’s “Mic Drop” started playing on the car stereo. It was part of a playlist I made for our car rides together after I finally came… Continue Reading “What I Want You to Know About BTS”
What I Want You to Know About Aging
I am getting to be old. I feel it especially in my knees and my lower back. I play basketball for an hour and I spend the next week bent slightly askew at my standing desk, as if perpetually preparing to bow politely to… Continue Reading “What I Want You to Know About Aging”
What I Want You to Know About the Gift of Subtraction
“What is he into these days?” That has been one of the most common questions I have heard from friends and family members since your mom died. Very seldom are they asking out of mere curiosity. They want to get you something. Anything to… Continue Reading “What I Want You to Know About the Gift of Subtraction”
What I Want You to Know About Our Vacation
“There’s a fish!” you exclaim as you point to the water pooling near the bank of Rock Creek. I look down but, at my angle, the hazy sunlight casts a glare that makes it impossible to see what you are looking at. I move… Continue Reading “What I Want You to Know About Our Vacation”
Guest Post – Burial Day
Today we gathered to place Jaime’s ashes in the ground. It was a hard day for all of us, though it was nice to be able to have a live event to bookend last year’s online memorial service. Several people eulogized her beautifully today… Continue Reading “Guest Post – Burial Day”
What I Want You to Know About Survival Rates
Your mom and I never talked about cancer survival rates, and the doctors never mentioned them to us, either. A couple of websites I checked out encouraged the patient and his or her family to stay away from such statistics. So did a book… Continue Reading “What I Want You to Know About Survival Rates”
A Widowed Father 