Hello, Friends! From start to finish, my next book took four years (gulp) to research and write. But it’s finished! and it’s scheduled for publication in early October 2020. The book is called The Aftergrief: Finding Your Way Along the Long Arc of...
The first holiday season without my mom was a confusing, disorienting time. I remember wondering, How are we going to continue traditions that had been under her purview? How will I even know how to do that without her guidance? I often think of a scene from Susan...
Dear Friends, Thanksgiving will soon be upon us, as tends to happen every November. I don’t know about you, but this is always a mixed time of year for me. It’s a culturally sanctioned period of connection and good cheer, but how many people always...
I was so moved by Anderson Cooper and Stephen Colbert’s interview on August 15, and their candid talk about childhood grief, I wrote an op-ed piece about it. The link to read it on the NYT web site is here. I’ve also cut and pasted it below. Please feel...
May 11, 2019 Dear Motherless Daughter, Here we find ourselves again, on the brink of another second Sunday in May. It’s easier in some years than in others, isn’t it? For many years after my mother died, this Sunday was all about missing her on a...
Mother’s Day can be a bittersweet holiday for those of us who’ve lost our moms. It’s an occasion to remember the bond we shared, but can also be a painful annual reminder of what’s been lost. Between us and together, Claire Bidwell Smith and I have helped thousands of...
Sending warm Easter and Passover holiday wishes to everyone who celebrates. May it be a peaceful and joyous season for everyone! One of my warmest childhood memories is of helping my mother change over the dishes for Passover every year. My parents’ marriage was...
For the first dozen or so years after my mom died, Mother’s Day, the anniversary of her death, and her birthday were all days that made me want to hide. I thought something must be wrong with me if it still hurt so much a decade later and beyond. And planning a...
Arriving in a distant city, sitting in a circle of strangers, and unpacking emotions that may have been tucked away long ago can feel very apprehensive, we know. But at a Motherless Daughters Retreat, you’ll find that words flow freely, and community forms quickly....
Dear Friends, As I write this letter to you today, I’m sitting at a desk in Scotts Valley, California, on the campus of a serene retreat center surrounded by redwoods. Eight women have gathered here to write the stories of their lives, several of them about...
