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life

Farewell Old Friend

It’s never easy to lose a friend, and sometimes their passing truly stings despite how anticipated it may have been. My friend Michael died this morning and my heart grieves. We became neighbors when I first moved to the coast 15 years ago and we remained friends after he sold his home and moved across […]

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favorites life poems & stories

Loving Too Many People

Today it feels like I love too many people. I know it seems like a silly thing to say, but the truth is that with all the wonderful things that love brings, it is also accompanied by loss. Today I am feeling the acuteness of the prospect of losing my dear cousin Irv Spivak who, […]

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family poems & stories

Must Be Found Again in a New Whole

I’m back at my home now in California and I’ve been feeling very tired since my return. I think it is a combination of a few things: Jet lag and not sleeping enough this past week A little bug I picked up on the plane Travelers emotional exhaustion It’s the last item on the list […]

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family Jewish ukraine

Tomorrow to Babi Yar

Tomorrow, barring unforeseen emotional breakdowns or interventions, I am going to visit Babi Yar, a place in Kiev where over two days over 33,000 Jews were killed. Not gassed, but lined up in groups of 10 along the ravine to be shot, and then tumble in. Horrible, horrible, horrible event in human history, and somehow […]

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family favorites Jewish ukraine

Ancestral Grief

Once again ancestral grief rears it’s pain again through me. If you’ll recall from a recent post about bringing some of my mother’s ashes to rest with her first husband Joe at a military graveyard in France, I discovered then how much grief I can carry for something that I have not personally suffered, but […]

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family

Lu and Joey Together Again and the Inheritance of Grief

I did it. I brought what remains of my mother’s ashes to rest with her first husband Joe in a cemetery in France. (Please read previous post first for more background). It was a powerful and truly wonderful experience. What clearly stands out for me in this experience is the amount of grief that we […]