Letters in the Clearing — An update, five years further down the road. Even after twenty years working alongside surgeons and clinicians across every specialty and family scenario I could imagine, there were two things I knew nothing about — caregiving and Alzheimer’s. My father died suddenly of a heart attack at sixty-two; it shook my mother and me to the core. An only child raised in New Orleans, close to both my parents, I never imagined a future without them, and I had certainly not...

This narrated reflection emerged during a recent restorative retreat in Denver, where walking, prayer, nature, friendship, reading, and writing created space to return to something that has been forming over time. Holy Grief is language I have come to use for a deeply spiritual and deeply psychological experience shaped by profound love, profound loss, relationship, memory, meaning, and the ongoing work of formation. This reflection is not offered as a complete explanation. It is an...

This Father's Day, I find myself reflecting not only on the loss of my father, but on the enduring gifts that continue to shape my life. 1. Tomorrow is not promised. Make moments and memories a priority. 2. There is no substitute for presence. Time given is love made real and transcendent. 3. A daughter's sense of value and worth is often profoundly shaped by her father. 4. Fathers help establish a model for healthy relationships through the way they love, honor, and lead. 5. ...