The following pages are about a journey I (Bert Blood) was forced to take when my life’s plans were placed on hold some time between 2012 National Cat Herders Day and 2013 National Bobble Head Day. My wife of, at that time, twenty seven and half years was diagnosed with…

Today is August 10, 2019. I have never been one for “anniversary” but today is different from all the preceding August 10th’s save one 34 years ago. A hot sunny day when Meredith and I exchanged vows in front of about 50 witnesses and God. That morning ritual of matrimony…

Time for group therapy of one again. I have never been one to discuss my feelings with anybody. There is no crying in baseball. There is no open crying allowed by the manly man, son of a military warrior father, grandson of a Survivor of the Great Depression in rural…

August 16th My birthday shares some footnotes in history. On this day Mr Pemberton, inventor of Coca Cola, Margaret Mitchell, author of “Gone With the Wind” and Elvis Presley all died on this date. For my friends who. like me. enjoy putting a literal slant on things, they died in…

Here they come! Out of the blue on the eve of our anniversary, the grief guidance counselor called. Okay, she is paid by Hospice to do a call at one week, one month, six months and one year of date of death. She started with the worst question, the one…

Skip to content New Norms Just another WordPress site Good Grief it’s the Grief Doctors Here they come! Out of the blue on the eve of our anniversary, the grief guidance counselor called. Okay, she is paid by Hospice to do a call at one week, one month, six months…

I was over at a friends house the other day. I sat down on the front porch where one of his neighbors was already sitting. Over the last three or four years, I had seen him maybe a half dozen times. Meredith was with me on most of those trips…

I was over at a friends house the other day. I sat down on the front porch where one of his neighbors was already sitting. Over the last three or four years, I had seen him maybe a half dozen times. Meredith was with me on most of those trips…

Night time is the hardest. Very hard. Very quiet. Very still. Very lonely. The later it gets, the more alert and awake I get. Sunday was the first time I have left the house on a mission. Went to my brother’s house which is about an hours drive from my…

High School Football. Marching Bands. One third of the attendees are involved in the game. Players, band, coaching, referees, concessions and a host of paid and volunteer positions. One third of the attendees are watching the game. And the final third are watching who is attending. Greeting friends with enthusiasm…

August 30. An event which occurred around noon, in a hot hospital room in Macon, Georgia. This event predated the invention of air conditioning. An event predating my arrival on this blue marble by 5 years, 11 months and 2 weeks. An event which I have celebrated with Meredith for…

The long holiday weekend. This labor day weekend started with a quiet birthday celebration of sorts at the office. Meredith and I worked together for thirty plus years. I know of few married couples who work together. Not for a large company or are employed by someone and happen to…

Meredith and I had a seminary student staying with us briefly during her journey through this disease. She was describing a project she was formulating to share with one of her classes on outreach. She shared this plan with me. Two or three students would go out at lunch time…

When I was in Ft Myers with my grandson taking keel boat sailing lessons, I told him, now that Meredith had passed, I was now able to attend his football games. I told him I would be at everyone of them. Yesterday, it almost felt like he was playing in…

Friday Night Lights trip again. Eighty nine miles forth. 15:15 hours, I left Douglasville and headed East. I got an earlier start then usual but traffic hit an Atlanta Friday Overload. The drive should have been ninety minutes but with two “Red Alert” (all lanes blocked), I was delayed ninety…

Grief: Grief is a multifaceted response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or something that has died, to which a bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, it also has physical, cognitive, behavioral, social, cultural, spiritual and philosophical dimensions. While the…

Attempting to explore my new path in life is very difficult. When Meredith’s journey with MSA started in 2013, all relationships with friends and family started to change. Contact with her friends became strained, less frequent, awkward, and for the last twelve months interaction ceased to exist. Meredith had become…

I have history with Orland Florida. home of the big Rat as Mickey is known to the locals. My father settled here a wife and a life ago for both of us. He resides with his current wife in a modest ranch style house Dottie and her first husband built. About twelve…

I am a product of the Boy Scouts of America. From the time I was eleven and living in France until I was thirty, married with a newborn daughter, I was involved in the Scouting program. If it were not for the Scouts, I would more then likely be waiting…

On an ancient wall in China, A brooding Buddha blinksDeeply graven is the message– It is later than you think –The clock of life is wound but onceAnd no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop,At late or early hourNow is all the time you…

Meredith and I always took the “Blue Highways”. For those of you old enough to have traveled from point A to point B before the age of GPS, you had to have a map. Dirt roads, if shone were printed in gray, local roads were printed in black lines, expressways…

MOCO was on the road last week, October 4. They traveled North to Carnesville, Franklin County. The sweet lady voice with the slight British lilt said it was 84.7 miles. Easy, only two turns. I-20 East to the Atlanta Downtown Connector, turn left, go North for 60 miles, turn right…

Also known as child exchange day. I am a product of this holiday event. My exchange day was on Christmas Day. For a couple of years I would be transported to the train station,, spend 14 hours on the L & N passenger train from Louisville to Atlanta or Atlanta…

Borrowed from https://johnpavlovitz.com/. We recently lost a dear family member to a lifelong illness at just twenty-three years old. As his devastated father and I were exchanging dozens of texts during those first days following his death: details about the memorial service and speakers who would offer reflections and the…

I was always amazed when people would announce anniversaries down to the years, months and days of a meaningful event which occurred in their past. My memory banks were never programmed to be able to remember dates or names. The events which took place in the month of August, tho…

The pain of going home is becoming overpowering. The house has become ….. So much needs to be done, so many chores …… I cannot decide if it is better to sit at the office or go home and sit. The quite is the same at both places. Overpowering, suffocating…

I was doing pretty good this morning. Woke up at 0500, (still on Ireland Time), did my usual morning routine with only about an hour of contemplating the new meaning of my life as it appears to me through the fog and pain of loneliness. The dogs were able to…

The calendar on the wall contains “Red Letter Days”. Those days highlighted in a different print color so those of us dinosaurs who have an analog watch and a calendar, with no cute pictures, on the wall, can see in to the future what holidays are on the horizon. A…

Merriam-Webster Dictionary : mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficultyShort and sweet, pretty much covers the definition. Wikipedia on the other hand is a lot more verbose. This being the difference between methods of distribution of expensive printing with ink and paper versus the access to unlimited…

Eighteen full moons have come and gone since my pilgrimage’s path was altered to solo travel. Two trips out of country, my father’s passing, two knee’s under going total replacement, another test providing video proof that my head is not up there, contrary to popular belief of many family members…

It was a Friday morning in June. Clear blue skies and mild temperatures. It was around mid morning as I pulled into my shop parking spot, the one facing the front door. I sat with my hands still on the wheel as I stared at the portal entrance of the…

It has been a busy three years since I last visited the mostly unexplored depths of my emotions locked in an uncharted lobe located in the interior of my skull. So here it begins: Year of the Tiger started rough. Things were looking good around mid April, a period in…

While unpacking and storing boxes on shelves in the basement, I came across a box with memorabilia from several trips “She Who Must Be Obeyed” had gathered and saved in a room I did not pack up when I evacuated from my domicile of 34 years. I could look at…

Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success. Seeking a travel companion who can enjoy  being at the beach for sunrise/sunset, in the vast prairies of the mid west where the Milky Way appears…

I am not big on special recognition days. Birthdays, Anniversaries, Holidays. I think it is connected to my inability to remember names, dates, phone numbers. Names are foreign to me. I can be introduced to a person and before I can say how glad I am to meet them, their…

A person read my journal of my passage from having a soul mate to being alone suggested I should write a book of this pilgrimage. And she added a little note thinking she was late making this suggestion. This is my response. You are late. In passing random thoughts will…