“When we face loss and grief, we want to know what will come of it. We want to get to the point where we can talk about something painful, self-actualized and all the better for it. It’s uncomfortable to be in the midst of mourning, so uncomfortable we work to find some way to alleviate the pain. The lessons we can learn become the focus, and we skip honoring the depth of our loss…”

“As a season, spring often signifies new beginnings, new life. This newness is a beautiful opportunity, one that can carry with it expectations of what new should look like. Expectations of what newness should be are hard enough to work through, but what about when the newness is something we’re unprepared for? Something unwanted?”

“As the new year brings new hopes and new plans, the end of the year offers a natural time of reflection. What can we express gratitude for and what do we hope to part with? What changed? What was lost, and what was found…”

“I found comfort in honoring the year’s harvest by accepting its gifts for the future. Seed harvesting is a time when I find myself feeling the parallel past and future lives–what had to happen to arrive here, what may still come….”