Tag Archives: death

WAITING

Every year, around this time — the end of May — I feel myself slipping into the same suspended state I was in 15 years ago when we were waiting for my father to die. It comes with the purple

WHAT HEARTLESSNESS LOOKS LIKE

After my father died, and after the public services, a couple who I am friendly with but not close to, called to express their condolences. The man did so quite generously, and then handed the phone to his wife. “I’m

WHAT LOVE CAN DO

A day after her daughter Carrie Fisher died, Debbie Reynolds said — according to her son — “I miss Carrie. I want to be with her.” A short while later she was gone. Amidst the sorrow, especially for the family

WHEN A FRIEND DIES

My friend died early this morning, long after midnight and long before dawn. She waged a fierce battle against the cancer that ultimately won. She had been in the hospital for 3 weeks and the night before she died she

ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF MY FATHER’S DEATH

There was a full moon the night before my father died. Like the moon a few nights ago that shone through my window, bright as a prayer. Eleven years have passed since my father’s death and, strange as it may

THE DAY MY FATHER DIED

June 5, 2004 was damp and thick with fog. I drove to my parents’ house at 5:30 in the morning after a restless night  — waking up often thinking the phone would ring at any moment with news that my