Mother Loss

How I’m Making Mother’s Day My Bitch

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I've spent years wallowing on this Hallmark holiday, missing my dead mom. This time, though, I'm making it my own.

Mother’s Day, Millennial Style

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How Tootsie Rolls and apple cider helped bring my haphazard support system together on the first Mother's Day after my mom's death.

Why I’m Eating French Fries on Mother’s Day

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My mom loved fresh vegetables, until she became too sick to eat them. Towards the end, all she — and I — could stomach was french fries.

6 Tips for Writing An Investigative Memoir

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Curious about what goes into writing an investigative memoir? Journalist Jessica Barraco invites you into the process of researching her own mother's life.

Inside the Recipe Box

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My late mom's handwritten, ingredient-stained recipe cards are among my most cherished possessions. Here's why.

Leaning In, My Way

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I dove into back into work after my daughter was born. As a motherless mother, I soon realized I'd made the wrong choice.

Recital Envy

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At my daughters' concerts and school performances, I see all the happy grandparents, snapping photos and bearing flowers. That's when I feel my own mother's loss most acutely.

Divorce as Primer

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I became a divorcée at 29. Months later, my mother suddenly died. The isolation I felt after my marriage ended gave me the tools to deal with her loss.

In Praise of Canada’s Assisted Suicide Decision

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I am still haunted by watching my mother die in the hospital, attached to so many machines. What if she could have died on her own terms?

When Everything Scared Me

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After my parents died in a plane crash, there was grief, pain and loneliness. But above all, there was fear — until there wasn’t.

Wild, Like Me

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In a sold-out movie theater, watching the film based on Cheryl Strayed's bestseller, I saw my own experience with mother loss play out on the big screen.

Older Than She Was

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I’ve officially lived longer than my mother did. Only now, on the other side, have I come to understand the life she lived.

On Thanksgiving, Hitting the ‘Reset’ Button

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We never had any holiday traditions, like the ones you see on TV. But in my mom's absence — and in her honor — I'm creating some.

How Much Information Is Too Much Information?

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I have so many questions about my mother's tragic accident. But will the details of her death provide me with relief or will it traumatize me all over again? Weighing the pros and cons of fact-finding.

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.

When the Grief-Stricken Has Special Needs

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In the latest installment of "Ask Modern Loss," a hospice volunteer wonders how best to help a man with Down Syndrome process the impending death of his mother.

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.

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.

Resenting My Mother-in-Law — Even More Than Usual

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After losing her mom to cancer, one reader finds it harder to contend with her difficult mother-in-law. Our advice guru explains how to keep the peace.

Dorm-Room Mourning

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After my mom's death, my dorm room was an embarrassing place for grief.

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