From the monthly archives:

November 2009

Thanksgiving – Our First Big Holiday

Thumbnail image for Thanksgiving – Our First Big Holiday November 26, 2009

It’s Thanksgiving Day here in the USA. Time to give thanks to our maker for all the good things he has given us.
It has also been six months since Richard died.
So you probably think we won’t find anything to be thankful for. After all it’s hard to be thankful for grief, pain and a huge [...]

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The Trees Fall

Thumbnail image for The Trees Fall November 24, 2009

We’ve had our house for more than 25 years.  There is a huge maple tree beside the house. It’s not in very good shape. We’ve feared it would come crashing down on the house. For most of the 25 years we’ve been here, there’ve been plans to have that tree – and others – cut [...]

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Emotional Tug-of-War

Thumbnail image for Emotional Tug-of-War November 23, 2009

Last week was a bad week.
Maybe it was because the holidays are getting near- Thanksgiving is this week, Christmas just around the corner. Maybe it’s because they’ve been advertising the benefits of generic drugs at work – but they left out the dead kid benefit part of the story.
It could also be today is the [...]

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Saying Goodbye a Bit at a Time

Thumbnail image for Saying Goodbye a Bit at a Time November 20, 2009

I finally canceled Richard’s cell phone.
For nearly six months we’ve been paying for that phone. And it has just sat there on the divider between our kitchen and TV rooms doing nothing. No phone calls. No text messages. Nothing.
So why did we waste all that money?
Because it’s just hard as hell to let go of [...]

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I Just Want To Scream!

Thumbnail image for I Just Want To Scream! November 20, 2009

There have been times since Richard died that I want to scream. Very loudly, at the top of my lungs. In anger.
Yesterday at work was one of those times.
We are going through our annual process of signing up for benefits for next year. During this period they have various insurance and health care service providers [...]

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Strange Dream

Thumbnail image for Strange Dream November 16, 2009

I haven’t had a dream since Richard died. At least not one I remembered.
Until last night.
In my dream I was checking out Facebook.
And Facebook said, “Richard Mudd commented on…”
A couple of times.
Don’t remember whose Facebook posts he commented on. Not sure I even recognized the names.  Seeing Richard making comments sort of shocked me, you [...]

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Can You Dream Again?

Thumbnail image for Can You Dream Again? November 15, 2009

After Richard’s death Paula Fangman from our church gave us a copy of Healing After Loss – Daily Meditations for Working Through Grief by Martha Whitmore Hickman. Paula found this book helpful after her husband passed away.
It contains some inspiring quotes and a short reading for each day of the year.
The entry for October 23 [...]

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A Final Accounting

Thumbnail image for A Final Accounting November 11, 2009

As the court appointed administrator for Richard’s estate I have to provide the court an inventory of his estate.
First off, it strikes me as funny the very notion of Richard having an estate. When I think of estates, I think about houses, farms, money, cars. Richard did have a small mutual fund account. And because [...]

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Happiness by the Books

Thumbnail image for Happiness by the Books November 9, 2009

As grieving parents we tend to notice – even concentrate – on one thing ; our grief.
That’s something we can’t avoid for a long time after our child has passed away. It just keeps jumping up and smacking us in the face.
But at some point we all need to find a way out of that [...]

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The Smile Challenge

Thumbnail image for The Smile Challenge November 8, 2009

Richard was a Dr. Seuss fan. He had all his children’s books. And he demanded they be protected from visiting small children.
So I thought this image and the up lifting  message it presents would be a good choice for grieving parents.
It’s a tough goal. Sometime we can make it, sometime we can’t get there.
You can [...]

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Getting Away From It All

Thumbnail image for Getting Away From It All November 5, 2009

Debbie had to go to a conference for her job this past week. It was at Lake Barkley State Resort Park. We decided to turn it into a get away from it all mini-vacation. So I took several days off from work and tagged along.
It was a pretty low key conference, with plenty of down [...]

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