Spirituality

My mother’s unloved diamond ring

We treasure what loved ones left behind, like a favorite piece of jewelry. Or was it? My mother’s engagement ring has quite a story, and now at age 67, I understand why she never wore it. She married my dad in 1950, and later in the 1980’s, after my mother’s death, the sparkly European-cut diamond […]

Suzette Teaches How To Write About Death and Dying – Register!

Writing about death is intimate.  More personal than writing about sex, your bank balance, or whatever “stayed in Las Vegas.” Beginning Tuesday, October 12, 2021, I will teach a 7-week writing course for The School of American Thanatology. My classes will blend practical writing tips and guided imagery exercises toward authenticity, vulnerability, and effective writing […]

Trees talk to each other and now I’m listening

A 75-foot oak in my backyard impresses me with its intelligence. Trees protect and interact with each other more than I knew. Trees in my yard and the adjacent back field form a community that “talks” to each other.  These trees may date back at least 100 years when a larger tract of 10 acres […]

Father’s Day: I see you differently now

I needed a poke in the back.  I always thought my father’s lack of attention was benign. However, my dad never said, “I love you,” and rarely interacted with us. After work he’d head to his bedroom to eat and watch the Mike Douglas Show alone. But really, compared to addiction, womanizing or cruelty, my […]

Spring Flowers: A Profoundly Short But Healing Life

Spring flowers are fleeting and fragile beauties. The metaphor for “living in the now,” is a crocus bloom. My dining room is alight in yellow forsythia and daffodils, budding azaleas, and shrub branches full of “pink, pearly thingies.” After 20 years I have a first-ever flower bower for my meal times. Pandemic isolation highlights home […]