‘These Were His Mountains, After All’: Remembering One’s Father While Cycling in the Swiss Alps By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight James Jung thought he rode the winding narrow roads of the Alps to memorialize his dad. He was wrong.
‘The Sea and Sky Decide What They Will Allow’ By Krista Stevens Highlight “I’m working on a book about Arctic explorers, and that means swimming in a sea of sorrow.”
‘Who’s Going to Take Care of Me?’: When the Coronavirus Takes Both Parents By Cheri Lucas Rowlands Highlight In the wake of their parents’ deaths, three siblings struggle to get through the day-to-day.
The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Lockets By Katy Kelleher Feature Lockets simultaneously display and hide. But does squirreling our love and grief away in a piece of jewelry keep the memories and emotions present for us, or minimize them?
Grieving, but Calmed by a Different Kind of Storm By Stephanie Land Feature In isolation, Stephanie Land finds surprising relief from PTSD — and discovers she is able to write again.
How Do You Live In a Body That Doesn’t Feel Like Yours? If You Have No Choice, You Just Do. By Michelle Weber Highlight Paraic O’Donnell chronicles the progression of his MS with clarity, beauty, wit, and no small amount of sadness. Picking the most striking paragraph in this essay full of them is a fool’s errand.
At Mrs. Balbir’s By Jillian Dunham Feature Jillian Dunham traveled thousands of miles from home to get away from her grief. It found her anyway, in a stranger’s Bangkok apartment.
Writing Emails to My Late Father By Krista Stevens Highlight “I’m writing my half of a dialogue that I know he would share with me if he could.”
We Use Language as a Spade By Krista Stevens Highlight “Though the embryo was only seven weeks old, I loved it. I loved it and wanted it, and its life ended.”
Searching Sephora for an Antidote to Aging — and Grief By Abby Mims Feature Five years after her mother’s death, while still grieving and suddenly middle-aged, Abby Mims turns to beauty products to cure what ails her.
Finding Solace in the Charged Particles of the Aurora Borealis By Krista Stevens Highlight “Cree First Nations believe ‘the northern lights are dancing spirits of loved ones who have passed on.’”
The Christmas Tape By Wendy McClure Feature Wendy McClure recounts how an old audio tape of holiday music becomes a record of family history, unspoken rituals, and grief.
A Woman’s Work: Becoming a Home of One’s Own By Carolita Johnson Feature Carolita Johnson considers what it takes to recover from grief, build strength for the future, and become one’s own center of gravity again.
Naming the Psychological Effects of Climate Change: Solastalgia By Krista Stevens Highlight “The word he came up with was solastalgia, a portmanteau word of the Latin solus, which means ‘abandonment and loneliness,’ and nostalgia.”
Why I Wanted To Finish My Father’s Life’s Work By Karen Brown Feature Karen Brown recalls the pain and joy of fulfilling a deathbed promise.
California Burning By Tessa Love Feature A year after the Camp Fire, Tessa Love contemplates home, California’s undoing, and what it means to belong.
A Woman’s Work: Till Death Do Us Part By Carolita Johnson Feature Carolita Johnson considers the emotional and physical labor required of women as their loved ones die.
Life After Pain By Michelle Weber Highlight One day, Ge Gao’s right hand stopped working. Then the pain started, and it’s never stopped.
Old Dudes On Skateboards By Aaron Gilbreath Feature The death of his life-long skateboarding friend prompts Aaron Gilbreath to get back on his board — at 44, with his toddler daughter in tow.
‘A World Where Mothers Are Seen’ By Vanessa Martir Feature Vanessa Mártir introduces Writing the Mother Wound, a series of essays on mothering presented in collaboration with Writing our Lives and Longreads.
I Will Outlive My Cat: A Reading List on Pet Death By Alison Fishburn Reading List Alison Fishburn shares seven longreads on how humans experience the death of their pets.
How to Predict the Unpredictable By Katie Gutierrez Feature After the death of her dog, Katie Gutierrez grapples with the ripple effects of her decisions — and how to live with uncertainty as a mother.
It Comes in Waves By Lilly Dancyger Feature Years after her cousin was killed, Lilly Dancyger is haunted by images of murdered women in the news.
Conversations with My Loveliest By Melissa Berman Feature Melissa Berman recalls what was said, and not said, between her and her beloved aunt as they approached her final year.
Woodstock: My Queer Love Story By Kate Walter Feature Kate Walter went to Woodstock in 1969 with her boyfriend. She went back in 1994 with her girlfriend. She’s not going back again.
Companion Fair? By Krista Stevens Highlight “That’s what Dad’s AAirpass and ultra-elite flying status yielded for him: lifelong bonds.”
The Burdens We Carry By Amy Scheiner Feature Amy Scheiner reflects on her mother’s sudden death and what it means to be a woman in a world that is set up to bury them.
Two Clocks, Running Down By Colin Dickey Feature In “Time Is a Thing the Body Moves Through,” T Fleischmann resists metaphor, even as they reflect on the metaphor-saturated work of Félix González-Torres.
Father’s Little Helper By Scott Korb Feature While under the influence of Valium, Scott Korb reflects on all the fathers he could have been and the father he has become.
