death
For my dad.
As many of you know, my dad passed away on February 3. This has been the most trying time of my life – and although I haven’t felt comfortable enough to share much about my dad, I’m really thankful I have this outlet, and people who read it and can related to the story of […]
MoreWhat I’ve learned from John McCain.
As we head into the holiday weekend, I wanted to write a bit on John McCain. I will admit, if you asked me even a year ago my thoughts on Senator McCain, I would have rolled my eyes. I probably don’t have to say it, but I’m a die-hard liberal. I don’t agree with McCain’s […]
MoreSummer Meltdown… to realness.
Last night was yet another showcase for my Dance Austin Studio family. This was the Summer Meltdown, Take 2, which was a music video series. It was, of course, different from other showcases Dance Austin has hosted in the past – it was a four-week series followed by a video shoot, instead of a live […]
MoreBlanche’s Book Club: ‘The Rainbow Comes and Goes’.
Hello! It’s Friday and I’m just rolling right on through my reading list. Usually, I use my library reserve list to choose the order in which I read books (when it comes time to pick up, that’s the book I read next), but given my recent loss, I saw this book was on the shelf […]
MoreStage Five: Acceptance.
Ah, here we are, the final stage: Acceptance. This stage can come across as a giant sigh of relief, but the truth of the matter is, acceptance does not equal joy or mean that life goes back to the way it was. Instead, it simply means that we are accepting life without our person; and […]
MoreStage Four: Depression.
Stage four isn’t that shocking – it’s depression. Why wouldn’t someone going through grief suffer from depression? I have been slogging through the darkness of depression and sadness since my dad’s surgery in late September. Although depression can come in many forms for different people, for me, there was one telltale sign: things that normally […]
MoreStage Three: Bargaining.
Stage three of grief is an interesting one. Bargaining refers to promises that may have been made before the person passed away. For example, praying and asking God to please spare your loved one; or perhaps making a promise that you’ll never do anything bad again if only this person can live longer. These types […]
MoreStage Two: Anger.
Already, anger has played a pretty big part in my grieving process. Actually, anger has had a role in the relationship I’ve had with my dad for many years. As described by the experts, this stage of grief can be met with general feelings of anger, along with structured feelings of being angry at a […]
MoreStage One: Denial.
My dad was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer in October of 2017. I know that typically, the five stages of grief are part of the healing process after loss; after death. But I have been coping with symptoms of grief since I heard the news about a mass in his brain. I […]
MoreGoodbye, to you.
On Tuesday, my mom delivered the news to me that a dear family friend of ours had less than a 10 percent chance of surviving. I wept behind the closed door of my office. This was not just any person – it was Cheryl, my mom’s best friend, a woman she’d known for 34 years, […]
MoreForever My Friend.
There are lots of dates I wish my mind would erase. And by dates, I mean months paired with numbered days of the week. Next week, one of those days is on my calendar. When I was a sophomore in college, I was living in my sorority house, and it was the morning of our […]
MoreHow I fell, part twelve.
It was a Thursday afternoon when D told me it wouldn’t be much longer for his grandfather. I asked him what he wanted me to do. He wanted me to meet him for lunch, and drinks. So I did. Needless to say, D was pretty upset. His family was close, his parents and grandparents all […]
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The Bitter Lemon 
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