The Sun Will Shine Again

Life Lessons from a Year of Grieving

Table of Contents

Foreword by Rabbi Steve Cohen
Walking a Shared Path of Learning
Introduction
Authoring My New Existence

Taking a Breath and Beginning the Journey…
1. Into the Cocoon
Grounding Myself in Safe Places
Story: Breath Is Passage to the Soul
2. The Care and Maintenance of Me
When I Nurture Myself, the Healing Begins
Story: My Sleep Guru
3. If You Don’t Ask, You Can’t Receive
Being Open and Reaching Out Is Key
Story: 21st Century Blues
4. My Good Friend the Calendar
Structuring My Days

Making Friends with the New Normal…
5. The First of Everything Is Really Hard
…And the Holidays Are Hardest of All
Story: Good Things, Bad Things
6. Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
There’s No Choice But to Ride the Wave
Story: My Coming Out Party
7. The Buck Stops Here
Making My Own Decisions
Story: The New Driveway
8. Living with Zest
I Lost My Partner,
But I Didn’t Lose My Purpose
Story: Shall We Dance?
9. You Can Huff and Puff,
But You Can’t Blow My House Down!
I Am a Powerful Human Being
Story: Not a House of Straw

Looking Back, Moving Forward…
10. Building on the Memories
My Version of Scrapbooking
Story: The Memory Bench
11. Hey, You in the Mirror, You’re Doing Okay!
Having Compassion for Myself
Story: The Kvetching Bear
12. I Didn’t Ask to Become an Expert on Grieving
Trusting the Process
Story: The Rain

Living in Light…
13. One Year Later
I Am Not the Same Sissy
Story: Cycle of Love 130

Celebrating Bernie Taran
My Husband, a Wonderful,
Loving, Generous, Simple Man
Appendix A
Books That Helped Me Heal,
An Annotated List
Appendix B
My Mother’s Legacy

A section of photographs follows page 92