How long did Colin wear your shoesHow many miles walked, balls kicked, goals scoredIn your shoes?The soles came off before he gave them up. Who got your bike, new that Christmas?Did they ride it for days, up and down their streetOr hardly at allBecause it was always yours? She keeps […]
Reflections
28 posts
My back was sore as I scrambled off the floor and the pile of wrapped presents to slide onto the couch and pick up my glass of port. I stretched and observed to Elizabeth that it has been a really challenging fall. There were three main challenges that I had […]
The essay below is by Penn State alumnus and former goalkeeper Dan Sheerin. His son Danny was one of the first Mack Brady goalkeepers at Penn State and their entire family has been a mainstay at the annual Mack Match and Winter Clinic. He and I were musing on the […]
A few weeks ago I had the honor of being interviewed about Beautiful and Terrible Things by Shelley Craig for the Faith and Grief Podcast. The less than stellar audio quality was my fault, I was recording from my iPad via Zoom (so sometimes it would speed up/slow down). It […]
We were so honored to be invited on Open To Hope’s Conversations: The Podcast. It was a wonderful chance to talk about Mack, grieving, and finding hope.
Mack’s dad here. Westminster John Knox Press has posted the page to pre-order my book Beautiful and Terrible Things: A Christian Struggle with Suffering, Grief, and Hope. It is in press now and will be available on September 1, 2020. The description from the publisher: Bible scholar Christian Brady, an expert […]
A new essay of mine was posted today on Open to Hope reflecting on the season of Advent and showing up for one another in our darkest hours. I love this quote from Sister Joan Chittister: “Have you never been imprisoned by your fears, your embarrassments, your humiliations, your inadequacies? […]
Some thoughts as we enter the season of remembrance. Read it in full here. I have come to appreciate that memory lives in a separate space and at times Mack and I share a moment. Often I laugh out loud and “re-member” Mack’s great laugh and feel his warm spirit […]
An essay from Elizabeth recently posted on OpenToHope.com. It has been six and a half years since our son, Mack, died suddenly on New Year’s Eve 2012, just shy of his ninth birthday. As the many of us who learn to live newly after loss, we take it on as […]
I hardly remember any details from those days after Mack died. The world continued to move, a new year had come in, yet everything had changed for us. Suddenly we had to cope with all sorts of things parents never imagine they need to deal with. My brother came to […]
Thank you to Daniel Sheerin, Penn State Keeper Emeritus and father of one of our first Mack Brady Keepers for this poem. Mack Brady Keepers Mack Brady and we fervent few are forever one true team, ever to excel as goalkeepers living out the Penn State dream […]
We are so grateful for the wonderful and sensitive retelling of Mack’s story and how soccer has been a part of our joy and healing. Bill Littlefield, Karen Given, and Alexander Schroeder were wonderful to work with and Bill, as always, provided his warmth to the story. It is a […]
My most recent essay, “The Downstairs Thief,” has been published on Open To Hope. I had a vivid dream that took me several years to understand, but the meaning came to me a few weeks ago when I was asked to share a storytelling experience at “Loving Through It” at […]
A reflection on Holy Saturday It is Holy Saturday, the gap between death and resurrection, the gap in which those of us who have lost loved ones live. I have been reading this morning of other mothers who have survived, literally “live beyond” the deaths of their own children. Women like Jennifer […]