Q. My elderly aunt just died, and I’m on the fence about attending the funeral. I loved her, but the funeral is far away and will be so depressing. Will it really matter if I don’t go?

The big question is: matter to whom? So many rituals, which bind us together, have fallen by the wayside in our…

Are you grieving for Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds? Still saddened by the deaths of David Bowie and Prince? What about Garry Shandling or Harper Lee? It can seem odd to feel such a deep sense of loss for someone you never met, and yet it is normal to grieve for anyone who has touched your life.

I remember my own grief when newscaster Peter Jennings died. I not only welcomed him into my…

My mother was a wise woman. She always said, “Something good comes out of everything.”

How she could come to that conclusion following my father’s death was puzzling. My mom was only 46 when she was widowed with four children. She raised us and sent us to college during an era when women did not work outside the home, and…

Q. My elderly uncle, who is ailing, wants to be buried with his dog in his cemetery plot. Is this common with pet owners — and is it possible? I thought that animals had to go to pet cemeteries.

Usually, animals are indeed consigned to pet cemeteries, where their owners have long…

Q. I’ve heard that some widows experience “complicated grief.” How does it differ from ordinary grief, and who’s at risk? I’m a widow myself.

Grief is the emotional and physical response to the death of a loved one, featuring symptoms such as sadness, anxiety, panic, numbness, fatigue, shock. After my own husband…

Q. I’ve read about coloring books for adults that somehow help reduce stress. Are any of them for widows?

I haven’t found any that focus specifically on widows, but "Colors of Loss and Healing: An Adult Coloring Book for Getting Through Tough Times" by Deborah H. Derman, Ph.D., targets readers who have had…

In the two months since I got married and my new book, The Green Dress, was released (on the day of our wedding as gift to our guests), I have had time to reflect on how much the book has changed me.

It has been one of many steps that I now see are about how I have never strayed from who I am supposed to…

Can you see, with your mind’s eye,

Peoples dwelling together?

Sorrow has passed. Peace at last!

Life without tears and pain.

(Chorus)

2. Man and beast, living in peace,

Cause no harm to each other.

Food will be there. All will share…

Flickr Creative Commons | kayte terry

I will be the first to admit that I love the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. I’m a multitasker, I like to entertain, and my birthday is in December. Last week I was in England at…

Just when we think we’ve seen or heard it all about death these days, there is more to learn, to love and to laugh at about the way people are impacted and/or reacting to life’s final moments. Funerals are lightening up, obituaries are good…

The fashion shows recently rolled out in New York, London and Milan reminded me of a fashion show of an entirely different sort I attended last year in Montana. It was during a week of seminars and workshops on aging issues, and I was invited to present ObitKit: A Guide…

In your grief, it’s easy to become numb to yourself and to the world. The vibrancy of the world – its colors, noises, smells and tastes – can be too much for you to manage. Add the lack of touching, which you miss so much, and you just want to climb into your hole and ask the world how it can go on when your life has stopped. Consequently, you may revert to not wanting to feel anything and, hence, you make yourself…

When it comes to coping with grief, there is an often-used term "the light at the end of the tunnel."

I've always loved the image that conjures up in my mind. For me, the darkness of loss certainly felt like being stuck in a deep tunnel, and as I marched forward on my journey of grief, I looked for any illumination that could provide me respite from…

Much of the grieving process focuses on our loss. We miss our loved one so much that it hurts, and we wonder how we will ever make it through the pain. We spend time looking back at the past with regret and grow anxious as we anticipate a future without our loved one in it. We wonder how we…