My Loss

The Lights and Lessons of Toro Nagashi, the Japanese Candle Boat Ceremony

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I missed a lifelong friend’s funeral. But I honored him all the same.

Vacant Seats

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I heard about Justice Scalia’s death at one of my last dinners with my beloved, if complicated, father. Months on, as the justice’s seat sat unfilled, so did Dad’s.

John Duberstein Nina Riggs Lucy Kalanithi Modern Loss

My Guide to Finding Love After Loss

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A totally conventional and easily followed roadmap to emotional transition, by the widower of "The Bright Hour" author.

Our Double-Widowed ‘I Love You’

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Goodbye used to mean until later that day. But for my fiancé and me, respective tragedies have rewired our brains.

What Triggers Me Isn’t What You Think It Is

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Old photos and anniversaries don’t do me in the way one sitcom theme song does.

I Was Given My Grandmother’s Name, But I Took Her Locket

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No matter how many stories I heard, my grandmother remained abstract to me. I needed something tangible to make my grandmother feel real to me.

The Museum of ‘Before’

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My mother's Facebook profile has become a small souvenir of life (and her) before she got sick.

Bereavement Group Dropout

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Around a table full of widow-baked cookies, I absorbed the most profound of all death clichés, and I was done.

My BFF Makes ‘Your Mom’ Jokes About My Dead Mom — and I Love Her for It

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And I love her for it.

Our Christmas Décor Became a Metaphor for My Grief

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What is the protocol for embroidering a Christmas story that stops abruptly in the second chapter?

A Very Brady Christmas (But Way More Complicated)

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A newly engaged widow wants to know how to manage her bereaved in-laws' expectations this season. Our advice columnist weighs in.

The Hummingbirds Who Lightened My Grief

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When my daughter died, I hated the sun for rising without her. I wept as the world turned green and flowers burst open. But the backyard birds were a different story.

Tips For Getting Through the Holidays When You’re Totally Sad

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Maybe someday the season won’t feel like someone is taking a melon baller to my heart, but for now getting through it is about knowing what to avoid and what to embrace.

Unpacking That Last Box — Once and For All

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After my boyfriend died, I clung to his things as a way to stay close to him. Eventually, I realized I didn’t need to.

I Forgot the Anniversary of My Mom’s Death

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But there's one deathiversary that I can never put behind me.

Mizuko Kuyo: Japan’s Powerful Pregnancy Loss Ritual

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At a Buddhist temple far from home, this ceremony provided me solace.

11 People You Meet in Hell

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Minimizers, vultures, happy morons, competitors at the Sad Olympics and other people you’re bound to encounter on your grief journey.

What Is ‘Sexual Bereavement’?

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We don't talk about it enough.

The Lie We Tell Ourselves About Mental Health

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My mom's suicide taught me that there is no clear line dividing those who are of sound mind from those who are not.

Mom’s Memory Was My ‘Something Blue’

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How I incorporated my late mother into my wedding celebration. Plus, great tips for memorializing a loved one at your nuptials.    

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