Category: Grief
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The Memory Blogger
Another milestone passed! This post represents my 100th blog post on TheBuddyBlog.com website. No one is more surprised than I am. To celebrate this you-gotta-be-kidding-me event, I thought I’d share my thoughts and reflections on how I came to be a blogger. It might surprise you. After all, I never thought I’d spend any time…
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Resume Virtues vs. Eulogy Virtues
This past week, my family held a reunion at Jekyll Island. My children, spouses, and grandchildren — all twenty of us — came together for five fun-filled days on this Georgia Gem of a barrier island. We had a blast. Following our clan’s visit to Driftwood Beach, my wife and I snuck away for a…
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A Rendezvous with Rosa
We arrived on time for our divine appointment — we just didn’t realize we had one. My wife and I decided to spend a few days in St. Augustine, Florida, touring the historical sites, exploring the eclectic shops and boutiques, and sampling the local cuisine. An arts festival was in full bloom and artists were…
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Gratitude: Cause or Effect?
Reading a recent Facebook post of a cousin prompted me to ponder the virtue of gratitude. Is it a cause or an effect? My cousin was grateful for surviving a narrow escape from death after a frightening encounter with an errant dump truck. Gratitude was most definitely the result of her near-miss death experience. Her…
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Grace for the Grieving – What to Say at a Funeral Home and a Few Things Not to
Let’s take a vote. A show of hands please of how many people look forward to visiting a funeral home? Nobody? Thought so. You are not alone. Visiting a funeral home ranks right up there with root canals and eating fruitcake. Face it. You never know what to say. You are not sure how long…
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Avoiding the Insanity of Immobility
Here I go again. This past week I had surgery on my right heel to remove a bone spur that was aggravating my Achilles tendon. If that sounds familiar, it is almost the identical surgery I had on my left heel last Christmas. So, once again, I am facing 7-8 weeks of immobility as I…
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The Master Woodworker
You wouldn’t know it to look at him, but my friend, Dick Willits, is a Master Woodworker. Nor would he be comfortable with such an exalted moniker. Now in his 80’s and long retired, Dick took up woodworking in his later years. Not sure if it was a repressed passion of his or that his…
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Love Lifted Me
Soon after our wedding last year, I discovered an unexpected blessing from having married a woman who can sing. Patrice serves as one of the cantors who leads our church congregation in singing. She has perfect pitch and a musical range that few possess. Yes, I am not at all objective about this, but…
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My Digory Moment
There are those among us who consider the reading of fiction to be a supreme waste of time, at best pure escapism. I am not among them. I will be the first to admit there is a lot of literature that deserves the dust it gathers. Yet reading fiction for me has never been…
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A Name on The Wall
My eyes first beheld the Wall in July 1999 when my wife and I vacationed in Washington D.C. I remember it as if it was yesterday. While I have seen some amazing sights in my life, nothing has emotionally impacted me as those moments spent gazing upon a wall of names. As soon as I…