Living and Dying Awake

If you’re here, chances are life has interrupted your plans.

Maybe you’ve loved someone who died.

Maybe you’re caring for aging parents while raising children of your own.

Maybe grief arrived through divorce, illness, disappointment, the loss of a dream, or simply the quiet realization that life is unfolding much faster than you imagined.

Or perhaps you’ve found yourself lying awake at three in the morning, wondering:

Is this really how I want to live?

I know that question well.

I never imagined that losing my husband would become one of my greatest teachers. I would have given anything not to learn those lessons this way. But grief has a way of stripping away what isn’t essential and placing our hearts face-to-face with what matters most.

It taught me that life is breathtakingly fragile.

And heartbreakingly beautiful.

It taught me that love doesn’t end where a life does.

It taught me that presence is not a luxury. Presence is the way we come home to ourselves and to one another.

Most of us are never taught how to navigate loss. We’re taught how to achieve and accomplish. How to stay busy and keep moving. How to put on a brave face and carry on.