Tag Archives: and #lifeafterloss

El Calafate Trees

April 5, 2025Events, Grief Journey#Argentina, #bereavement, #drugdeath, #griefandhealing, #griefisreal, #griefjourney, #grieving, #grievingmother, #losingachild, #losingalovedone, #loss, #opioidepidemic, #OverdoseAwareness, #penguin, and #lifeafterloss, griefLosing Someone to Addiction

Post #6

Fascinating trees…

Pure Joy

April 2, 2025Events, Grief Journey#bereavement, #drugdeath, #griefandhealing, #griefisreal, #griefjourney, #grieving, #grievingmother, #losingachild, #losingalovedone, #loss, #opioidepidemic, #OverdoseAwareness, #penguin, and #lifeafterloss, griefLosing Someone to Addiction

Post #3

We flew to Buenos Aires, then boarded for our next flight.

While getting on the airplane, I saw pure joy on Jason’s face. What a treat that was for me to see, after all he had been through—the end-stage cancer journey I endured from 2009-2011, with everyone certain I would die; the breakup of our family; and his older brother Tristan’s two years of addiction and then overdose death in 2015.

Jason had been through sooo much and now had come out on the other side.

My heart sang.

As we flew across Argentina, outside my window I saw strange marks on the ground—lines and circles. I thought, “Surely not Nasca lines in Argentina.” They turned out to be, I was later told, the result of mining.

Later we crossed over the beautiful turquoise Santa Cruz River, set against reddish clay soil. It was gorgeous.

We soon arrived in El Calafate in the Andes Mountains of Patagonia.

A Pocket for the Penguin

April 1, 2025Grief Journey#bereavement, #griefandhealing, #griefisreal, #griefjourney, #grieving, #loss, #OverdoseAwareness, #penguin, and #lifeafterloss, griefLosing Someone to Addiction

I needed a new waist pack for our trip, so about a week before leaving I headed to Roads Rivers and Trails in Cincinnati and selected the most suitable one for my needs. But it was odd, having pouches on each side of the main compartment with no closures. I asked the sales rep, “What are these for?”
She didn’t know.
A few days later came the inspiration, probably from Tristan, to take his little penguin on our trip since we were going so close to Antarctica. The open pouch turned out to be perfect for carrying the bird–it would give him a perch for a perfect bird’s-eye view of the whole trip.
Jason, and many people we encountered, loved it.