Personal Essays

Hurricane Sandy’s Human Toll

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Don't tell me hard it was to get to work during "superstorm" Sandy, or how long you lived without power. The hurricane killed my father right before my eyes.

It’s Halloween: Trigger Treat

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Halloween imagery takes on new meaning in the wake of my father’s suicide.

Paying Tribute to My Peeps

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My 13-pound Bichon Frisé was my best friend, my loyal companion and my professional buoy. So why isn't there a blueprint for mourning a pet who loved me as much as any human did?

‘Call Me a Mother’

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After two miscarriages, I feel like a parent — even though I've never held my babies or pushed them in a stroller. I want you to respect that.

‘Wish You Were Here’

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My daughter, Nina, died five weeks before she was due to be born. Years on, I am surprised by the depth of pain her absence brings me.

GRIEF BACON: These Are Your Lungs on Grief

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My asthma had always been under control. Then my brother died from drug use, and I struggled to breathe.

Parenting After Loss

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It can be hard to know if my children are reacting to their father's death — or if they're just acting their age.

Up in the Andes, a Wish Come True

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Thirteen years after my parents died in a plane crash, 4,000 miles from home, and alongside other 'motherless daughters,' I finally began to heal.

Joan Rivers and Her ‘Screw You!’ to Suicide

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Joan's insistence on yanking the word 'suicide' out of the shadows endeared her to many survivors -- especially me.

The Obituarist

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After escaping the World Trade Center on 9/11, I left Wall Street to become a professional obituary writer. I never looked back.

Labor Day Love and Loss on Lake George

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I tell my son about my idyllic summers on Lake George — just not about the Labor Day tragedy that followed one of them.

Saying I Do, and Saying Farewell

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Eleven days after marrying the love of my life, I stared at his lifeless body and said goodbye.

Across the Pond, a Lesson in British Mourning

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A North American transplant, I'd spent years trying unsuccessfully to master British restraint. Never did I feel more at home as an expat than at my first British funeral.

Between Death and Goodbye

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Before my wife's body was taken away — and her final organs harvested — I was able to spend a few precious moments with the woman I loved.

Fighting White Privilege, Grieving My White Mother

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The problems with international adoption are many. But I cannot reject the mother who raised me — especially in her absence.

The Words We Couldn’t Say

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As my daughter grew inside of me, my best friend's pregnancy ended in stillbirth. Comforting her felt impossible.

Home, Not Home

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After my brother died suddenly, everything about my hometown felt all wrong — until it didn't.

Living a Year as if It Were My Last

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As my childhood friend was dying of cancer, I embarked on a 365-day experiment in living.

Letter of Last Resort

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Had I unknowingly destroyed my father's suicide note all those years ago?

Not So ‘Crazy,’ After All

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How my sister’s cancer death changed the way I approach my own health care choices.

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