Mel’s Friday Blog Roundup

Featured in Mel’s Friday Blog Roundup:

983rd Friday Blog Roud Up (April 19, 2024) — Honoring Molly (16 Years) (April 17, 2024)
Mel’s words about my post: Lastly, Bereaved and Blessed has a post on Molly’s 16th birthday/the anniversary of her death. She explains the benefit of re-reading these old posts and remembering what she has been through. “When navigating difficult and uncertain times, I often think I’ve never felt like this before, it is so hard. However, in reality every age and stage of life is filled with challenges that can feel almost insurmountable while we are living through them.” Again, a bittersweet life lesson that I’m grateful she has put back into my head with this reminder.

974th Friday Blog Roud Up (February 16, 2024) — Set in Stone (February 13, 2024)
Mel’s words about my post: Lastly, Bereaved and Blessed has a post about a mistake made on her mother’s headstone. I love the beginning: “One of many idioms that I grew up hearing was how things aren’t permanent until they are ‘set in stone.’ I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about what it meant or how literal I took the expression until today.” As well as the end — that we can change things, even the things set in stone.

960th Friday Blog Round Up (October 27, 2023) — In Her Shoes (October 23, 2023)
Mel’s words about my post: Bereaved and Blessed has a beautiful post about going through her late mother’s possessions, in particular, her shoes. She writes, “As I slipped my feet in her shoes and laced them up, the memories rushed in from when we were together and I was helping Mom by gently finagling each foot, adjusting her socks and then tying them up (with one knot, as she preferred).” Her writing put me in the moment, made me feel the love and care that went into those interactions. And this line both gutted me and lifted my heart: “Though navigating this new reality, in which Mom is dead, continues to be difficult and painful at times, allowing myself to feel how I feel helps me to find meaning, as I integrate what was then and what is now.” Sending a lot of love.

951st Friday Blog Round Up (July 7, 2023) — Life Just Goes On Without Them (June 29, 2023)
Mel’s words about my post: I had Bereaved and Blessed’s post for this week because I read it on Friday evening. She marks the two years since she last saw her father alive and how a concert led her to find a profound line about life and loss. This line made me cry: “Life does go on without them and I am doing my best to live mine with intention and meaning, one day at a time, while not taking things for granted.” Sending peace of heart.

931st Friday Blog Round Up (February 10, 2023) — Middle Age Maladies (February 5, 2023)
Mel’s words about my post:  Lastly, Bereaved and Blessed talks about mid-life aches (which reminded me of Spalding Gray’s Bermuda Triangle of Health from age 50 – 53). She explains, “Next month I turn 48 and it seems this stage of middle age brings with it a host of seemingly random, and at times rare, medical challenges.” These two are unusual, and I didn’t know about the dangers of antihistamines.

898th Friday Blog Round Up (June 10, 2022) — Four Weeks in June (June 3, 2022)
Mel’s words about my post: Lastly, Bereaved and Blessed is approaching the one year anniversary of her father’s death. Part of the healing process is writing it down and thinking through the moments. She writes, “One year ago today began the last four weeks of my father’s life, though we didn’t know that at the time.” I’m honoured, as a reader, that she is letting us abide with her as she remembers.

891st Friday Blog Round Up (April 22, 2022) — 15 Years in 15 Words (April 10, 2022)
Mel’s words about my post: Lastly, I held this over from the missing Roundup: Bereaved and Blessed breaks down 15 years of blogging with each year’s defining word. It’s an amazing look back at a writing life, and it would be fun to retroactively return to each year and figure out the overriding feeling of your own posts. Congratulations on reaching a huge blogging milestone.

857th Friday Blog Roundup (August 13, 2021) — In Lieu of Flowers (August 7, 2021)
Mel’s words about my post: Bereaved and Blessed writes about a family tradition of giving a painting to mark a moment. I think this is brilliant, especially as someone who does not like to receive actual flowers. She writes, “The Monet, along with two other fine art prints that my parents gave us, to celebrate Molly and Abby’s births, also have been a wonderful reminder of my Mom and Dad’s love and generosity.” But the best surprise is what happens when she shows up at her new job. Love this post.

842nd Friday Blog Roundup (April 23, 2021) — Remembering Molly (13 years) ~ Happy Birthday Baby Girl! (April 17, 2021)
Mel’s words about my post: Bereaved and Blessed is remembering her daughter, Molly, on her 13th birthday. She begins: “Today you would be 13, a teenager. I’ve been struggling to write this for so many reasons. This week has felt really heavy, not to mention this month and year. It is both healthy and okay to feel everything I am feeling and it is really hard.” I love this post because it ties her daughter into the here and now, connecting with bereaved families and the hard events (both personal and worldwide) of the last year, and holding all in her heart.

812th Friday Blog Roundup (September 25, 2020) — Better Off (September 22, 2020)
Mel’s words about my post: Bereaved and Blessed captured Kym in a blog post. And she said it best: “I am better off for much of what I’ve let into my life, especially dear bloggy friends like you.” This strange new medium, this way of connecting that came about when we were more accustomed to making friends offline. We all found each other and let each other in. It’s a tribute to Kym, and it’s also a tribute to the friendships found online.

809th Friday Blog Roundup (September 4, 2020) — Best Possible Outcome (September 1, 2020)
Mel’s words about my post: Bereaved and Blessed is celebrating the best possible outcome when it comes to the results from an ultrasound on her breast. She felt optimistic going into the test, but points out that she has been on the wrong side of the odds before when it comes to fertility and loss. She writes: “I’ve learned not to take anything for granted or put too much weight in odds. When you’ve fallen into the less than 1% chance category more than once in your life good odds don’t always seem nearly as comforting.” Glad she’s doing okay.

753rd Friday Blog Roundup (August 2, 2019) — Reconciling Missed Potential (July 30, 2019)
Mel’s words about my post: Lastly, Bereaved and Blessed returns to an old post and updates a single word, subtly changing the meaning of her original thought. She also added in the perspective she gained from the year, and performed the piece in a reading series. I featured the original post last year, too, so go over and see the changes. (I love the new insights.)

740th Friday Blog Roundup (April 18, 2019) — Remembering Molly (11 years) ~ Happy Birthday Baby Girl! (April 17, 2019)
Mel’s words about my post: Bereaved and Blessed marks the eleventh anniversary of Molly’s birth and death. I love hearing how the family remembers her, and also this nugget of wisdom: “As your sibling’s pediatrician told me, not long after you died, we’ll have to continue to explain what happened to Sean, as well as Abby (after she was born/joined our family), because the older they get their comprehension and perspective will grow and change.” And yes, I did get choked up when I read the parts about Harry Potter and the connection with eleven.

733rd Friday Blog Roundup (March 1, 2019) — It’s Not Your Fault (February 22, 2019)
Mel’s words about my post: Lastly, Bereaved and Blessed has a powerful, must-read post processing the feelings after a suicide. My heart is with her, and I think everyone needs to read her words, even if suicide has never touched your life. There are so many places where we need to hear and absorb the words, “It’s not your fault.”

704th Friday Blog Roundup (August 3, 2018) — Missed Opportunity (July 30, 2018)
Mel’s words about my post: Bereaved and Blessed has a post about the theme of missed opportunities that runs through her grief. This week, it looped through the death of an old friend, one that happened four years ago, but she only discovered it recently. She is stunned to learn about it via social media when she clicked on his wall to see how he was. She explains: “That said, how did I managed to not visit his timeline or notice he wasn’t showing up in my news feed for 4 years? It happens, especially when we connect/reconnect with a lot of people online, both old friends and family, as well as develop new relationships with those we meet in person or find we have shared interests.” Its about the flaws of social media — that curated feed doesn’t always let you know as much as you think it is letting you know — but also the story of an old friend.

691st Friday Blog Roundup (April 27, 2018) — 199 Pages of Care (April 23, 2018)
Mel’s words about my post: Bereaved and Blessed marks the ten year anniversary of Molly’s birth and death by revisiting the CarePage from that time. The site is shutting down, and it compiled her posts into a 199 page PDF. She writes: “I’ve re-read what I shared about our journey with Molly many times over the past 10 years, but not as much as I did today in a while and not the specific comments we got on my posts from those who followed and supported us on our CarePage. It was surreal, painful and affirming.” It’s a must-read post about why we write; why it is so important to record life.

628th Friday Blog Roundup (January 6, 2017) — Perspective at Seven (December 30, 2016)
Mel’s words about my post: Lastly, Bereaved and Blessed has a moving post about her daughter processing information about her sibling that died before she was born.  It begins, “I overheard Abby tell her friend (who was over for their first playdate, at our home) that she wanted to talk about her sister in Heaven.”  She recounts the conversation between the two girls and the conversation she had with her afterward.  Go over and read the whole thing.

591st Friday Blog Roundup (April 15, 2016) — 9 Years in 9 Words (April 10, 2016)
Mel’s words about my post: Bereaved and Blessed reveals the 9 words that she has used to define her year during each of her 9 years of blogging. I love the idea of setting one ahead of time, though I’m terrible at (1) figuring out my word and (2) sticking to it, but even more, I love the idea of looking back and summing up the year. Go wish her congratulations on almost a decade of blogging AND see the word that defines her 9th year.

534th Friday Blog Roundup (February 27, 2015) — 45 Seconds (February 23, 2015)
Mel’s words about my post: Bereaved and Blessed touches on Graham Moore’s acceptance speech at the Oscars (which goes hand-in-hand with Earth & Ink’s post above) and then asks an important question. If you had 45 seconds on a widely watched television program and could reach many people at once, what would you say?

495th Friday Blog Roundup (May 23, 2014) — What Does It Mean to be Mentally Ill? (May 13, 2014)
Mel’s words about my post: Lastly, Bereaved and Blessed writes frankly about mental illness. I love this post, walking you through the questions you may have about her diagnosis while admitting she shared a lot of these questions too. It is a must-read post for… everyone. Everyone who has been diagnosed or who knows someone diagnosed or who just wants to better understand what life is like with mental illness.

491st Friday Blog Roundup (April 25, 2014) — What Do You See? (April 24, 2014)
Mel’s words about my post: Bereaved and Blessed writes about the only picture she has of her whole family on the day that her daughter was born and died. She has always had mixed feelings about this photo, especially the way she looks in it. But a friend tells her how she sees the photograph, changing the lens through which the author views herself, holding her little girl.

445th Friday Blog Roundup (May 31, 2013) — Sisters (May 30, 2013)
Mel’s words about my post: Bereaved and Blessed has a photo that is worth 1000 words.

402nd Friday Blog Roundup (July 20, 2012) — When You Get Little (July 14, 2012)
Mel’s words about my post: Bereaved and Blessed has a post on something her daughter says. It’s such a moment of sweetness, but it also ends with a thought-provoking question, one that scared me shitless when I thought about the ending to Max Tivoli. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts over there.

337th Friday Blog Roundup (April 22, 2011) — Perfect Moment Monday: “I’m that Someone.”  (April 18, 2011)
Mel’s words about my post: A moving post about taking the statistical bullet and pairs it with a story about her father that will make you rethink the whole start of the post where she explains that she is that someone in the sentence, “it has to happen to someone.”  It is about re-examining suffering from two different angles.

277th Friday Blog Roundup (February 26, 2010) — Omega and Alpha (February 24, 2010)
Mel’s words about my post: A post about being finished with having children. Once they receive news about the chance of having another child with the same medical conditions as Molly, they make a soft decision to end family building, but she states: “That said, it is one thing to come to that decision on our own and felt very different to me last week when I was under the impression that someone else, the Pediatric Geneticist, was discouraging us from going down that road again.”  I love the end of the post, bringing together the concept of the alpha and the omega.  It’s just a gorgeous read.

154th Friday Blog Roundup (September 4, 2009) —  “We Carry On…” (August 29, 2009)
Mel’s words about my post: A post about the memorial service for Senator Kennedy. It is a beautiful post that contains a quotation written by Senator Kennedy and sent to the families of those who lost a family member on the anniversary of 9/11 (he sent a letter each year). And it’s the quote that entwines itself so deeply in not only Kathy’s situation and following that light right now, but they are beautiful words for anyone who has been through a loss.