Lately I’ve been changing all the things. New paint in basically the whole house and even a new room for Eli. Flowers in the front yard and funeral plants all over the house. I think I’m up to eight in the house and a butt-ton outside. Feel free to go ahead and pat me on…

My oldest is turning 17 today. He’s the one that made us parents. His is the last of these “first” birthdays without his dad. With the exception of the actual anniversary of his death, this is the last big “first” without Vance. Seventeen years ago, someone took this picture, just eleven minutes after Vance officially…

You know that part in every wedding when the preacher is having the bride and the groom repeat after him and they say, “‘Til death do us part?” Four times, they say that. Twice when the officiant is leading and once each from the bride and groom. Four times. I’ve been to four weddings in…

Sometimes I think my kids list more than their dad on July 3. They lost a big part of their mom that day, too. In the days since, well, I haven’t exactly been on my “A” game. There has been a lot of sleeping in. A lot of hiding out. A lot of long drives…

So I was talking to my therapist last week about this whole Coronavirus thing. She and I had to meet via Zoom, because you know, COVID-19 and social distancing and all that. Anyway, she was asking me how I’m doing with the whole thing and we ended up talking about how in a really weird…