His presence has been active (felt) this month—March, in which he was born and his daughter was born and he died—more than previous years.
Birthdays and the Ever After
What’s Real vs What’s True
What’s true is that it’s not possible to hate or disregard someone who doesn’t pray or look like you, or to take advantage of or purposely hurt someone, unless you’re afraid of losing something.
Grief in the Body (on ICE)
"What does the ache ask from you? Does it want Doritos? That’s okay. Eat them. A smoke? A high?"
How “This is Us” got motherhood and grief right
"I am who I am because the person I loved most in one moment in time was alive and then he died."
Grieving the White House
This is full blown grief, my friends; the inability to comprehend what’s being said and done in the moment.
Meet Mathias
In this excerpt, Mathias and the family have returned to Minnesota after two years in Norway. Mathias still plans to leave (abandon) his family, but he hasn’t worked out the details yet.
Meet Erling
Erling was always nice to me the few times I saw him, but I didn’t grow up with him, so I can’t fault my family for their feelings. It’s why I changed the Erling character in my novel so drastically from the one my family disregarded in real life.
Meet Alexandra (plus, an excerpt)
Today, meet Alexandra Amalie Johanson Anderson Peterson, my great-grandmother and the protagonist of my novel.
Another day, another earworm
I woke up this morning with the 1975 Austin Robert’s song “Rocky” playing in my head. It’s been decades since I’ve heard it, but there it was, in my ears, and I remembered every single sad word.
And now for something not so different… Fiction v nonfiction
To paraphrase the Beatles, there’s nothing we can know that isn’t already known.
Lynn Haraldson, Author and Writing Mentor 