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What Do You Do If Someone Posts an Insulting Comment on Your Blog?
I don’t often get negative comments on this blog. For one thing, my posts tend not to be controversial — they’re more of a way of chronicling my journey through life and the writing life. It’s hard for...
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Getting Freshly Pressed. “What? Like It’s Hard?”
A couple of nights ago I got an email from WordPress. The message said: Hi there Pat Bertram, Congrats! We’ve picked your post ( http://ptbertram.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/thirty-two-months-of-grief/ )...
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Allowing Myself to Dream
Yesterday I wrote about Living Each Day We Are Given and how there will come a time when I am free from my current concerns. People think I should be preparing for that future, planning what I am going...
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Celebrating Life and Offbeat Occasions
I like to celebrate offbeat occasions, or at least acknowledge them. For example, I celebrate the anniversary of my connection to the internet with a sacrifice to the online gods to ensure the safety...
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After Grief: Crashing the Party of Life
Once a long time ago, I crashed a Halloween party. It sounds as if I am very bold, doesn’t it? But truly, it was out of character for me, and besides, I was in costume. I remember that the party was...
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1000 Days of Grief
1000 days have passed since the death of my life mate/soul mate. 1000 days. An incomprehensible number. At the beginning, I could not imagine living one more hour let alone one more day in such pain....
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One Thousand and One Days of Grief
Although yesterday’s post 1000 Days of Grief — and this one — might make it seem as if I am still counting the days of grief, I actually stopped counting after the first year. Once when I could not...
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A Child of Grief
My life mate/soul mate died thirty-three months ago today, and I found myself hesitating before writing this post. I worried it might seem as if I am trying to keep myself in the center of a drama, a...
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Close Encounters of the Coyote Kind
In A Spark of Heavenly Fire, I had a character meeting up with a coyote as a way of showing that the character was becoming “untamed,” that she was finding her inner savage. She went from searching...
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Believing Impossible Things
In an effort to see life in a new light, I’m going try to believe impossible things. I’ve always wanted to know the truth, but grief has thrown so many of my perceptions out of whack that I don’t know...
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Being Real Online: The Truth of Me
In a recent blog interview, someone asked me what I would do differently if I were invisible for a day, and I responded that for all practical purposes I am invisible. “Practical purposes” meaning...
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Thirty-Four Months of Grief
Thirty-four months ago today, my life mate/soul mate died of inoperable kidney cancer. For thirty-four months now, I have been posting updates on my progress through grief, and that astounds me....
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Finding a New Life that Fits Properly and Looks Good
In a conversation with a friend about my father, who is still going strong at 96, I said, “I take after my mother, which is good because there is no way I want to live to such an advanced age,...
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The Dower House of Grief
While doing a word puzzle, I came across the clue “widow,” which gave me pause since I couldn’t think of anything that means the same as widow, but then it came to me: dowager. According to the...
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Becoming the Vibrant Person You Will Remember Being
I woke feeling tired today. Even though I would just as soon have lounged around all morning doing nothing, I got dressed, took a walk, and now I’ve turned on the computer to work on this blog post....
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A Palliative for the Brokenhearted
Three years ago, a yoga teacher and fitness instructor living in Holland got tired of the cold, and so her husband put in a transfer to a warmer climate. Three years ago, I was living a thousand miles...
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Countdown to One Hundred and One Adventures
I’m on the left side of the photo Things are settling down in my life and revving up all at once. My father finally was able to start his breathing treatments and now is more alert, has a bit more...
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Can You Change Your Luck?
While researching What is Luck, yesterday’s blog post about the meaning of luck and how it plays a part in the book business, I found a fascinating study about the difference between lucky people and...
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Figuring Out Where to Go From Here
During the past three years, ever since the death of my life mate/soul mate I’ve been trying to figure out where to go from here. Currently I am taking care of my 96-year-old father, but someday this...
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A Vehicle to Drive on a Soul’s Journey
The first car I fell in love with was a Volkswagen bug, and I have it still. In fact, it’s the only car I ever owned. And I’m the only owner it ever had. Only 21 years younger than me, and the thing...
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