Hi ,I want to share something with you over the next few days. It's a story about love, loss, and finding your way through the unimaginable.Chances are grief has touched your life in some way—whether recently or in the past, whether your own or someo...

Dear ,Have you ever had one of these days?So yesterday it hit me out of nowhere. Middle of the afternoon, no real reason, and I just felt... off. You know that feeling? Like someone dimmed the lights on everything, but you can't figure out why.No big...

,My father and I often talked about death.As a deacon, he visited the sick in hospitals, prayed with families, and sat with the grieving in their darkest moments. He taught me that,"Sometimes the greatest gift you can give the grieving is to simply b...

Dear ,The shame tells you it was your fault. The fear whispers you'll never be safe again. The isolation convinces you that no one could possibly understand.If those voices feel familiar, I want you to know: you are not alone.Maybe you’ve tried to pu...

Dear ,When I was doing my doctorate in Minnesota, I lived in a senior apartment complex. It wasn’t unusual for me to share meals with neighbors who had stories stretching back decades… and then wake up one day to find their apartment empty.Death wasn...

Aye yai yai ,"I don’t know what I’m doing wrong,” she told me, her voice shaking. “No matter what I say, no matter how careful I am, it’s never right. He tells me I’m worthless… that nobody else would ever love me. And I believe him.”I’ve heard this...

Dear ,Today I found an old picture of my younger brother and I. Here we are at the installation banquet for the president of the Institute of Engineers. This wasn't a picture that we posed for. It captures a moment frozen in time when I was so inord...

Hey ,Two weeks ago I wrote about restoration. Last week, about the architecture of resilience. This week, I'll share another truth bomb that landed as I was walking along the walls of this cathedral of Sts Peter and Paul in Paramaribo, Suriname. The...

Dear ,Six years ago, I lost my father to cancer. Lost is a relative term, though — I am still deeply connected to him. People still see me and see him. In the early days, they would falter when they looked at me, angry at the reminder of his absence,...

The Bench Beyond the FogShe walked until the air shifted.The path behind her had vanished, swallowed by mist. Trees stood like quiet sentinels, rising from damp earth, their bark slick with dew. The forest didn't startle her. It welcomed her without...