Category Archives: Uncategorized

This is already an unforgettable year for me and it just seems like the craziness won’t stop anytime soon. I teach a college class where students travel to Ghana over spring break. Students from a variety of majors take the class and generous funding is provided for the trip. It is one of the mostContinue reading “Grieving, Ghana style”

By Benjamin Shown 2/22/20 There was plenty of advice our mom had given Stace, Pat, and I over the years. Don’t drive angry.  Clean your bathroom. Don’t furrow your brow. But by far the most repeated and the one that has always stuck in our brains was ‘kill ‘em with kindness’. This advice would oftenContinue reading “Kill ‘em with kindness”

Back in the day Mom and Dads’ first house was the gathering place on this street. My dad commented just this week that he wishes life was like it was then, when people would stop by to say hi. No texting, no scheduling, just stopping by to talk and share a beer. My brothers andContinue reading “Hope is like the Sun”

When I was three years old, my grandmother asked my mother to take me to see a child psychologist.  I had yet to speak, instead opting to communicate using primitive grunts. My mother, who has had an unwavering belief in my abilities since the moment I was born, steadfastly refused.  But she couldn’t just sayContinue reading “My Aunt Barb”

My mom loved the Super Bowl. If the Bears or the Colts weren’t in the game she often went for the underdog or the team with the best colors or logo. She would also support the teams wherever her kids lived. It was an excuse to celebrate and my mom loved to celebrate all theContinue reading “Supermom and the Super Bowl”

There is much to be said about the importance of the sibling relationship. There are more small and single child families today than ever before and due to that, entire social systems are changing. As I grieve my mom’s death, I can’t stop thinking about her relationship with her sisters and my relationship with myContinue reading “Significance of Siblings”

So there is a theory many of us have about mom’s illness. It was because she was so healthy that they didn’t find the cancer soon enough. It was because she was so healthy that she lived for a week without food or water while asleep in hospice. My mom loved to eat vegetables. SheContinue reading “What we put in our bellies and heads”

Before Christmas I set up a recording so that people could call in and leave messages for my mom while she was going through chemo. Friends and family called in and we recorded over 70 sweet memories, songs, and silly stories. Thank you to all who called in. Here is the message I left: EverythingContinue reading “My Christmas Message to Mama”