I have had many emotions in the past few months.  All of the Seven Stages of Grief have shown up for Roll Call:  Shock and Denial, here.  Pain and Guilt, present. Anger and Bargaining, yep.  Depression, Reflection, and Loneliness, yes, ma’am.  The Upward Turn, Yes.  Reconstruction and Working Through, yes, indeed.  Acceptance and Hope, present and accounted for.  The thing that no one tells you is they don’t happen one at a time.  All Seven Stages show up for class every day.  Not all of them stay all day.  Some of them check in later in the day.  But it has been a bit of a surprise that all seven like to show up almost every day for longer than you would like.  Fortunately, some are just not participating as much as they used to. So, if you had tried to tell me that I would ever see a silver lining four...

It’s Valentine’s Day today. I see the heart shaped boxes of chocolate. I imagine all of the floral bouquets being assembled and delivered today. Expressions of love will be given and received. Expressions of affection that are sometimes hard to articulate will be printed in cards signed by those who wish they could be so eloquent. It is a lovely day that is set aside as a reminder to tell each other we love them. My husband and I are sharing our 36th Valentine’s Day together today. It marks the 32nd Valentine’s Day celebrated as a married couple. Valentine’s Day in the early years of courtship and engagement were grand expressions of love. After marriage, the children began to come, so Valentine’s Day was turned into more of a family expression of love. Regardless of how we have celebrated the day, it has always been reflected in a way that represented the depth of the relationship. I...