Tag Archives: grief

In Honor of Fallen Police Officer Gordon Beesley

Middle school years are rough. They were rough when I was young, and they’re even rougher now with all the modern ways tweenagers can take out their angst on each other.

Enter School Resource Officer Gordon Beesley

Every middle schooler should have an Officer Beesley assigned to them. My kids did. Many of their friends did, too.

Like Mikah in this video, who was at the same school at the same time as my own children. This is a remarkable story of an exemplary School Resource Officer, of an amazing human being đź —đź —.

So typical Officer Beesley.

My family needed Officer Beesley on occasion. There were days when going to school seemed insurmountable. There were days when high emotions made thinking and behaving well impossible.

Continue reading In Honor of Fallen Police Officer Gordon Beesley

#NotInTheBrochure: A Plan to Make Adoption World Better

Nobody Told Us

Have you heard this from a birth parent?

  • No one told me it would hurt this much for this long.
  • No one told me how much I would see myself in my child.
  • No one told me how my feelings would fluctuate over time.
  • They told me about open adoption, but no one told me how hard it would be to navigate these relationships and feelings.

Or this from an adoptive parent?

  • Wasn’t it supposed to be easy if we adopted at birth? No one told us there could still be issues of loss and grief.
  • No one told me how much I would want my child to have his/her whole story.
  • No one told me parenting by adoption would be different from parenting by biology. In fact, we were told the opposite, that it was exactly the same.
  • No one told me I would be open to so many people loving this child.
notinthebrochure
Continue reading #NotInTheBrochure: A Plan to Make Adoption World Better

9/11, Ed McCaffrey, Stephen Covey & Me

Tuesday’s Horror was Preceded by Monday Night Football

I went to bed feeling sick the night of September 10, 2001. My sports hero was Ed McCaffrey, #87 and Denver Broncos wide-receiver, general nice guy and spectacular athlete. During that night’s Monday Night Football game against the NY Giants (boo!) Eddie Mac had suffered a broken leg. “In sustaining the injury, he made a spectacular catch and did not fumble the ball.” 

I had trouble sleeping that night, reviewing in my mind over and over again the play that made my own leg hurt, made me ache for Mr McCaffrey, as well as his wife and children who surely saw it happen. I must have finally gotten to sleep because I then slept through my alarm and was late to work. Still feeling bleargh about poor Eddie Mac, I loaded 5 month-old Tessa into the car to drop her off at my mom’s on my way downtown.

The comedy radio show I listened to was uncharacteristically somber. The DJs were known for doing some wild stunts, but pretending that two planes had hit the twin towers was unthinkable, even for them. Continue reading 9/11, Ed McCaffrey, Stephen Covey & Me