This article was originally published on November 11, 2015, and is updated regularly. _____ It’s been five years and 20 days since my son Kristoffer Continue Reading
The Gifts of Brokenness
Brokenness was not at the top of my Christmas list. The ornaments defining our family tree lay shattered. The ragged edges of devastation replaced the Continue Reading
Trigger Happy
After I discovered letters from my husband’s mistress, I bought an imaginary .357 Magnum. Wanna know why I chose that gun? One bullet goes through two Continue Reading
What’s It Like to Kill a Man?
I know I’m not supposed to talk about this, so here goes . . . . I sensed a mom is not supposed to ask her son, “Have you killed anyone?” But I Continue Reading
Prisoner of War: A Memoir — Tiny Terrorists Unleashed
This first appeared in The Havok Journal on December 16, 2014. _____ My sons are experts in the art of enhanced interrogation, better known as Continue Reading
We Are All Americans
I went to Sam's. Saw an elderly black man wearing a "Retired Army" hat parked in the handicapped spot loading his car. I shouted to him, "Hey, Army! Continue Reading
Making More “Mandelas”: A Call for Healing
Homicide. No mother wants to read that on her firstborn’s death certificate. And there it was. My son Kristoffer’s death certificate read: Continue Reading
Love and Loss: Dreading Memorial Day
My son's body came home on Memorial Day in 2007, I hate Memorial Day, and I have to admit, it drives me nuts when people see it as the start of summer Continue Reading
An Afghan-Muslim Woman Who Touched a Gold Star Mom’s Soul
An ethnic grocery store in Denver, CO with its name printed over its façade in three different languages compels me to stop and shop each time I drive Continue Reading
Do Educated Moms Raise Terrorists?
On Mother's Day, I read about the bombing of the girl's school for the Hazaras in Kabul and I wept. The death toll has risen to 85. A part of my heart Continue Reading
The Reality of Mother’s Day: A Time to Weep and Mourn, Laugh and Dance
My sweetest and most painful Mother’s Day was our family’s first Mother’s Day as a single-parent family. As a newly single mom, Mother’s Day was Continue Reading
Dreading Mother’s Day: Finding Solace in Brotherhood and Sisterhood
This first appeared in The Havok Journal on May 8, 2016. Mother’s Day... at the first mention in the week leading up to Mother’s Day my conscious Continue Reading
