Personal Essays

Modern Loss Avengers GOT

I Watched ‘The Avengers: Endgame’ and ‘Game of Thrones’ in the Same Week

By

It was both masochism and meaningful, in the throes of grief over my mother's death.

‘My Death Stories Are My Birth Stories’

By

That precious, precarious, otherworldly state of giving birth reminded me of something else: grief.

The Motherless Mother I’ve Become

By

Life with loss has a new dimension that informs the joy — complicating it and sweetening it, too.

When Twinning is Losing

By

With my aunt's death earlier this year, I lost a loving and uncanny living link to my dead mother - her identical twin.

My Complex Organ Donation Decision

By

I declined to donate my daughter's organs before her death. But I can't help imagining saying yes to an act powerful enough to save another mother’s child.

My Hard, Lonely and Strangely Magical Trip through Young Widowhood

By

Two years after my husband's death, good days have finally returned — and so have bad dreams.

Grief Bacon: Pressuring Myself

By

My husband's hands were the cool compress that soothed my migraines. After his opiate overdose, I'm struggling to replace his healing touch with my own.

Masks - Modern Loss

Grief Bacon: The Masks I Wear

By

My child's cancer diagnosis abruptly halted reflection on my own post-cancer body and soul. But after he died, it came roaring back.

A Heartthrob Dies, and a Generation Mourns

By

Luke Perry suddenly vanished, and we’re left behind to face our own mortality.

Modern Loss financial literacy

5 Ways to Empower Children with Financial Responsibility

By

Kids can start learning earlier than you think. The childhood lessons my parents taught me served as a powerful, lifelong legacy in the wake of their untimely and sudden deaths.

When You’re Everyone’s Favorite Grief Doula

By

The first of my friends to lose a parent, I stand at the ready welcoming others into the club no one wants to join.

A Surviving Partner’s Guide to Surviving a Pandemic Hallmark Holiday

By

5 ways to give yourself what you deserve on Valentine’s Day — and every day — when you’re missing a dead partner.

‘Querida Amor’

By

My father was scary to me except on Valentine’s Day. When he died, those treacly annual expressions of fatherly love went with him.

His Sister Was Dying as We Were Falling in Love

By

I learned of her illness shortly after our first date. Her absence remains a presence still.

Big Black Sunglasses Modern Loss

My Big Black Sunglasses

By

I bought a pair to shield myself during my mother's demise. Little did I know they'd lovingly do so through all types of loss.

My Cat’s Death Broke My Brain

By

It wasn’t just my heart that went to pieces when she left my side.

Manhattan skyline - Modern Loss

Welcome to New York

By

Suddenly worth half a million dollars through the dumb luck of my dad's death, I rooted myself to a new and unfamiliar home.

How I’m Dealing with Climate Grief

By

Sometimes I'm grateful my mom is dead—she gets to avoid witnessing the devastation on Earth. Getting involved in climate justice has given me hope.

The Perverse Pleasure of Grief

By

I was repeatedly told to 'get over' my double losses. Instead, I reveled in their depths and heights.

Twitter for Eternity   

By

I wish I had more letters from my mother, more time with her, more everything. What I do have, though, is her 16.7K tweets.

1 … 4 5 6 7 8 … 21