It hurt today as I said goodbye to Max. Our little dog would have turned 13 in a few days but he never made it. He was getting weaker and on Monday he was so sick that I stayed home from work with him and held him most of the day. I had to carry him as he had no energy even to come back in from going outside. There was nothing the vet could

9:35

The Pain of What's Missing

"You never think about death until it hits you right between the eyes." When you lose someone as close to you as a spouse, it can feel tough to go on, especially when the empty chair or the photos on the wall provide constant reminders of what's missing. If you have been through a recent time of loss and would like to talk to someone about it, please...

16:12

The Toughest Choices

A doctor's note. Hastily scrawled, it can change your life, or leave you with excruciatingly difficult decisions to make. This short video explores the difficult decisions of life, and the consequences of making decisions. Have you experienced something similar? Are there difficult decisions you need to make (or have been putting off making) recently? Related...

Comforting friends who have gone through significant hurt or loss is not easy. We want to support and encourage our friends during their time of trial, but often what we say can only make things worse. One of my professors, while teaching a graduate course I took called "Evil & Suffering" (not the most uplifting course name ever devised) talked...

Several years ago a friend of mine’s son died. His name was Nathan and he was almost two months old when they lost him.   They lost him to SIDS - every parent’s nightmare.  He was there and then he was gone.  I cannot imagine the depth of their grief. In the months that followed my friend shared a few of things people had said to him. ...

At 19 weeks I gave birth to a little boy.  We named him Jacob.  We said hello and goodbye in the same hour. He is not a miscarriage or an almost-child, he is my son.  This letter was written three years after his birth.  This is a glimpse into my mother’s heart, a letter written to Jacob my son who resides in heaven.  If you (or someone you...

In the wake of the horror and suffering of the recent terrorist attacks on Manhattan and the Pentagon, and recently the attacks on London, it has been heartwarming to see so many acts of heroism, beginning with the men and women who met a hellish death as they raced up the stairs of the World Trade Center to save lives. Thousands of volunteers, lavish...