My Loss

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.    

Why I Love IKEA

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Shopping there is my wildly commercialized way of keeping my Swedish grandmother’s legacy alive. (Plus, family recipes for Swedish ginger snaps and coffee cake.)

Experience Camps Modern Loss

5 Ways Grieving Kids Changed My Own Relationship with Loss

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As a volunteer counselor for Experience Camps, I was tasked with helping kids to address their grief; yet it's the kids who ended up helping me to do the same.

Missing the Goodbye

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For immigrant families like mine, loss can mean mourning from a great distance.

This Funeral Changed How I Feel About Weddings

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Many clergy will admit they would rather perform a funeral than a wedding. I used to be one of them.

Desperately Seeking the Funeral Director With a Matinee Idol Name

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Four years after my grandmother’s death, I was determined to track down — and thank — the mortuary staffer whose kindness (and name) I will never forget.

Rebecca Odes for Modern Loss

DNA and Middle C

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My son's resemblance to my father was always striking. But after my dad died, it took on new meaning.

Everything I Didn’t Want to Know About Miscarriages*

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My bold foray into documenting my loss in full color.

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