Last night we had the great blessing of four of Mack’s friends participating in “State of the Story.” This particular night was part of our “Learning to Live” initiative and the Ryan, Mike, Quinn, and Colin shared their memories of Mack. They were kind enough to also allow me to […]
Reflections
My latest essay “Sit Still and Uncover Your Eyes” was posted today on Modern Loss, a website dedicated to “candid conversations about grief.” Modern Loss was included in a New York Time’s piece “An online generation redefines mourning’’ by Hannah Seligson that reflects on the new era of public grief via […]
For the many of us who have an empty seat at the family table this Easter, I have found the Holy Week readings in the Magnificat so nourishing. A little encouragement from Monsignor Charles Fink: “Death does not have the final word about human destiny.” Peace to you and yours […]
Elizabeth has recently posted a new piece on Open to Hope, “Lent as a Verb, Not a Noun.” The standard preparation for Lent asks us to step away from our busy lives and consider our mortality: for you were made from dust, and to dust you will return. Until Mack died, […]
This is the lecture I gave for the 20th Annual Mark Luchinsky Lecture in the Schreyer Honors College, Penn State University. The video is below, but here are my scripted remarks, I departed occasionally from them, but the core concepts are here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rPuiwSaers From the opening remarks: Tonight we recognize the anniversary […]
Today is the Third Annual Mack Brady Soccer Clinic sponsored by Penn State Men’s and Women’s Soccer. That means that we have passed the second anniversary of Mack’s passing and his 11th birthday. We have been so very grateful for the incredible love and support that we have received. Most […]
I’m really pleased to share that my first essay for Open To Hope, “Another New School Year Begins,” was posted on their site earlier today. Open To Hope is the kind of resource that you don’t know exists until you need it. After Mack died, I began to read every book on […]
I shared some thoughts on Lamentations over at Targuman. Lam. 3:21-24 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” […]
We always light a candle for Mack in the various churches we visit. Today we each lit a candle at Michaelerkirche circa 1217. The ancient church was a hub of activity today; you can see a guy carrying a ladder in the background of the photo, he climbed up to change […]
When I was finishing high school and in my first year of college I went through some difficult times. I was melancholy, moody, in short, depressed. In the midst of that a well-meaning friend gave me a book Happiness is a Choice. I still have it on my shelf. The […]
One of the delicate balances of our new life is celebrating Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, first and last days of school, birthdays, Easter, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Groundhog Day…you get the picture, the list of celebrations is endless…how do we celebrate life with Izzy and honor Mack as an important and […]
This Lent I have been using the Magnificat app on my phone. I appreciated this reflection from Pope Benedict XVI: Holy Saturday is the day of the ‘death of God,’ the day which expresses the unparalleled experience of our age, anticipating the fact that God is simply absent, that the […]
“Something quite unexpected has happened. It came this morning early. For various reasons, not in themselves at all mysterious, my heart was lighter than it had been for many weeks…And, suddenly, at the moment when, so far, I mourned H. least, I remembered her best. Indeed it was something (almost) […]
When I was 8 months pregnant with Mack during Advent 2003 I read the Luke passages with renewed appreciation. Mary went to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John. After Mack was born I read these passages to the kids and we always got a good chuckle out […]