An Extra Day

An Extra Day To Live

An Extra Day To Love

An Extra Day To Give

And Extra Day To Rejoice

And Extra Day To Celebrate

And Extra Day To Bless

What are you doing with Your Extra Day?

The First Piece

So many people whom I have met

During this grief journey

Have expressed their need to have "A Place"

A Place to go

To grieve

To cry

To pray

To talk to their loved one

Many choose the site of an unexpected death

But most choose a cemetery plot or the like

My Mark chose cremation

He was adamant about not spending money

On a cemetery 'place'

The mortuary we chose kindly split Mark's remains

Of which 1/2 of them we took to his mom last July

He has a beautiful resting place in Bridgeport

Where he was born and raised

And where his mom can watch over him

I have not yet decided what to do with the remains I have

Although I have recently felt the need to have "A Place"

Since Mark passed away at home 

And we didn't use a cemetery

I have decided to create a 'memorial garden'

In my back yard

It will become "My Place"

To go

To grieve

To cry

To pray

To talk to my Mark

I do not yet have all the plans made

But I have added the first piece to the garden

Father's Day 1996

My boys made the above pictured garden stone

For my Mark

They were so much younger

14 and 10

But it has been a piece we have kept for all these years

As I cleaned the yard yesterday

It found its new home

And it will be the welcoming piece to what will eventually be

Mark's Memorial Garden

And 'My Place'

Prayerfully Considering How God Will Put It Together,

Cindy

7 months down

A quick update on my

Total Mouth Restoration

7 months down

 17 months to go

Lots of progress

With LOTS more to do

Still Happy About my Decision!!!!!!

Now I have to figure out

How to get rid of those

Annoying red lines on my chin!!

The Littlest Cain

I just had to share

The newest photo of

The Littlest Cain

Missy is 29 weeks along with this beautiful little angel

Due May 10th

This Nana cannot wait

To meet 'her'

'The Rules of Inheritance' A Review

How timely that this book should arrive for review at the end of the first year following my husband's passing.

Claire Bidwell Smith writes this memoir with the honesty I wish we all could live.

Her willingness to share her heart and life following the deaths of her mother and eventually her father, made me root for her as I read.

'The Rules of Inheritance' is not what I imagined it would be.  Claire allows us to enter her life in segments ranging from 14 - 32 years of age.  Each chapter opens a fresh understanding of her journey through grief and life.  I have lost a parent and understand the depths of grief but I have also lost a spouse and could relate so well with Claire as she recalls her struggles and challenges following her losses.

Though there is no clear path to grieving, it seems there are 5 typical 'segments' to grief.  Therefore, Claire has taken those segments and creatively weaved her journey therein.  This is not a chronological account, but a true reflection of the waves of grief that most suffer after a deep loss.

   I could not relate to Claire's choices during those tumultuous years but I could glean from her story the depth of her loss.  After searching in many unfulfilling directions, Claire has taken what were the voids in her life and now uses them to help other's who are walking a similar path.  In that it seems, Claire has found true happiness and balance in her life.

**One note of concern, especially for the younger or more conservative reader, Claire has no hesitation in using a four letter word freely in her writing.  I cringed as I read it each time and it did prohibit me from truly loving the book.

You can join in on the discussion of this book here.

Though I did received a small compensation and a copy of the book, all opinions written above are strictly mine.