Rita Anderson

Creative Grief: The Wind Phone Connection – Part II

With the first hint of early spring, my writing group hustled to make our dream of building our own Wind Phone at the independent senior-living center where I worked a reality. Kay Cox took the lead: She designed the sketch for our proposed Wind Phone, she purchased a vintage phone online, and she even found us our builder—another resident, Betty Gale, who loved the idea and agreed to use her impressive wood-working skills to do the physical build for our project. In quick recap, the Wind Phone first appeared in Japan in 2010, when Itaru Sasaki created it to help him

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David Beddow

Tragic loss and photo memories

When in mourning, time passes fast, time passes slow.Are pictures supposed to comfort the yearning?Photos capture static joybut in loss they bring no easing. She is gone, will time spinand stir a mind to heal.And gather strength no one should needaching for a soul that crossed the mortal veil. Her pictures surprise your eye with a visceral rot.Bores a hole in your mindthat has no measure.Run away, your instincts failed. Try! You must try to confront the loss,find the hope sliver in an image.See everything’s the samewhile everything’s different.  And stand firm in your loss, it’s ok to hurt.The universe showered

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Peggy Bud

When Three Months Became Five Years

Some stories return to you over time. Not all at once, but quietly, sometimes years later, after life has given you more experiences and unique way of understanding them. This is one of those stories. I first heard it nearly fifty years ago, when I was a young mother juggling several part-time jobs. One of those jobs involved interviewing family members of recently deceased elderly individuals for a Department of Health study about quality of life near the end of life. Each interview began the same way. I would receive a death certificate, locate the next of kin, and ask questions

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