by jo | Jul 29, 2014 | Everyday Stories, Jesus Time
About a year and a half ago, my world shattered. Today is not the day for those details. Just know that I don’t use the word “shattered” lightly. I lost people, places, calling. I used the word “decimated” a lot. I walked around in a fog of grief: The heaviness that...
by jo | Jul 22, 2014 | Everyday Stories, Myths & Cliches
Recently I was with a group of people and we were talking about what was going on in our lives and the topic turned to one of the girls there who is leaving her job soon. “I know it may be bad,” she relayed, “but I’m really giving it my all...
by jo | Jul 8, 2014 | Everyday Stories
A few weeks ago I wrote my own eulogy. It’s a writing exercise I’d heard of many times, but one I had never done. But, I’ve thought about my own death since I was a young kid. As someone who always assumed I’d die young (a belief I’m just...
by jo | Mar 6, 2014 | Everyday Stories
Dear Julie, It’s been 10 years. How can that be? 10 years of life without you. 10 years of this ache in my heart and stinging sensation in my eyes and nose when people speak of loss. When they experience grief, my heart breaks for them, because I still know the...
by jo | Oct 3, 2013 | Everyday Stories, Published Pieces
North State Voices: A grandmother’s legacy of love and life by Joanna O’Hanlon She didn’t want my sister’s grave to be alone. She was nearing death — she had been nearing it for over a decade — and yet as she was thinking about her final...