From a Daughter on Mother’s Day
By Phyllis Fanzo Lombardi
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At this time of year, I wish my mom were alive to celebrate with me and my own kids.
Tag Archives : Grief
Twelve Years After: How Widowhood Actually Feels
I remember everything, or at least the things that matter. I remember every pore of his skin, the encysted bump he had on the back of his head, the way he looked like a droll rabbi when he steepled his fingers. I remember the smell of his skin. I remember the lopsided grin he’d get, so wolfish and calculating and…
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A musing on remarriage
Breakfast this morning with the widower of a friend now nearly four years gone. He told me he’s getting married in the fall. Of course, I wished him well and felt grateful that he’d waited this long. Walking home I wondered about loyalty and how to manifest my continuing devotion to the woman and inspiration I miss each day. This…
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How I stopped hating Mother’s Day
I have to tell you a secret. For a very long time, I personally was not a fan of Mother’s Day. It’s perhaps sad, but true. Losing my mom at 14 has made the last 30 Mother’s Days a little empty for me. My mom was powerful and smart, and she gave such unconditional, unbridled love—it’s no wonder the void…
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Joyce Carol Oates on grief’s hard comedy
Unlike her thirty-seven other books, the new collection by the iconic Joyce Carol Oates emerged under a shadow: that of her beloved husband Raymond J. Smith, editor of the Ontario Review, and of a marriage that lasted than 40 years. This week, Oates told Florida reporter Chauncey Mabe that her usually-indomitable writing process had been slowed by the loss quite…
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‘Hey Lis, Are Ya Havin’n Fun?’
“G’nite dad. I love ya.” For the last few months I say this out loud with such gratitude every night when I hit the sack. You have no idea what it means to me that I can go to bed with peace. You see… I could have been wracked with guilt and remorse for being the Ice Queen, withholding and…
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Dr. Cecilia Ford on Grief: Part One of A Series
Cecilia M. Ford, a member of WVFC’s medical advisory board, has been a psychologist in private practice in New York City since 1987; her current areas of focus are chronic illnes and depression, eating disorders and body image disorders, sexuality and relationships, and parenthood and careers. This is the first of a series of columns on this daunting but essential…
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