Grief In Motion, Cape Hatteras National Seashore

The drive to Frisco Beach on Cape Hatteras National Seashore is strange, spinning out quickly from the forests of North Carolina, through the opening salvos of the vacation-destination Outer Banks, passing through tiny little kingdoms with fast-changing ecologies--forest, swamp, and then seashore. Keep driving, and soon you're skimming along the surface of the ocean on … Continue reading Grief In Motion, Cape Hatteras National Seashore →

16th Birthday

In another world,She would still be alive.And today we'd be celebrating her 16th birthday,But only in that awkward and sad way that one can celebrate with someone who's dying,And not conscious enough to participate.We'd be celebrating at her, near her, forced and awkward, though perhaps actually less so than you may expect.Because we were always … Continue reading 16th Birthday →

Grief in Motion, Day 1

We left our house on the Air Force Academy around noon on the 10th of June, 2021. We didn't have a strict or predetermined agenda for the journey other than a few required destinations. I'd taken 2 weeks off of work and we only knew we were headed first to the Okefenokee Swamp in southern Georgia, the first … Continue reading Grief in Motion, Day 1 →

Grief at One Year

One year ago today, we said goodbye to our daughter Rebecca. We had spent our lives in orbit around that little girl for 14 years. For 14 years she was the center of our universe...and then one day, after a long, slow, painful decline, after countless times over the years proving that she wouldn't go … Continue reading Grief at One Year →

Grief at Four Months

Our 14-year old daughter Rebecca died four months ago, on May 6th, 2020. Her death was a slow trauma- the gradual unwrapping of a horrible gift we were forced to accept shortly after her birth, that we were left no choice but to keep revealing. Her death was a violence in slow-motion, carried out over … Continue reading Grief at Four Months →

Rebecca

This morning, on Wednesday the 6th of May, my wife Jessica and I said goodbye to our daughter Rebecca as she took her last breaths and died in our arms. After 14 years of struggle, adventure, and perseverance, our little girl had exhausted the flawed vessel that had always so poorly contained her incredible spirit. … Continue reading Rebecca →