Loving Molly, and Mourning Her: A Husband’s Extraordinary Essay By Seyward Darby Highlight Blake Butler writes movingly about his late wife, poet Molly Brodak.
‘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.
‘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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
‘Buried in the Cowboy Way, with His Tail to the Wind’ By Krista Stevens Highlight “There was no chance I was going to ask him to make another winter, but as long as he was hobbling to his golf course and chortling to me each morning, it seemed too early to end his life.”
‘Little Grandpa’ and The List By Abigail Rasminsky Feature When her grandfather died, Abigail Rasminsky learned about a part of his life she’d known nothing about.
To Grieve Is to Carry Another Time By Matthew Salesses Feature Matthew Salesses considers the impact of his wife’s passing, and other factors, on his experience as a human passing through the fourth dimension.
The Leaves, They Never Stop Falling By Colin Dickey Feature Colin Dickey remembers a departed friend and a tree that won’t die.
Uncertain Ground By Grace Loh Prasad Feature Grace Loh Prasad realizes that mourning is complicated when home and homeland aren’t the same place.
What Falls to Earth By Susanna Space Feature Grieving the mysterious death of her father, Susanna Space seeks refuge in the study of meteors.
Blackstars By Michael Gonzales Feature Michael Gonzales reflects on the deaths of a dear friend, and a bookworm he idolized: David Bowie.
Who Really Gets to Make the Rules? By Krista Stevens Highlight “But who gets to impose those rules and who becomes subject to them can be decisions tainted with sexism and racism and transphobia and homophobia. “
The Strongest Woman in the Room By Kitty Sheehan Feature A daughter recounts her family’s worst day, through her mother’s eyes.
Giving Up the Ghost By Emily Urquhart Feature After his death, Emily Urquhart ‘sees’ her brother with regularity. Nearly 20 years later, stories and science help to explain why.
Bang and Vanish By Janice Gary Feature A trip to Key West becomes an unexpected journey involving a sacred bird, a beloved dog, and the challenge of coming to terms with the nature of fate.
How to Write a Memoir While Grieving By Nicole Chung Feature Nicole Chung contemplates loss, adoption, and working on a book her late father won’t get to see.
