The familiar words reach our ears. I hate that they are familiar. Isis. Extremist. Suicide bomber.

And then my cousin fell into the grave. At first there was silence. And then we laughed.

The early knowledge that those who mean the most to you are not invincible, that your love is not enough to save them – it turns the heart not to stone, as stories would have it.

I was jealous. Fifteen like me but petite, hair a brown cascade brushing the waistband of her cut-offs.

In this past year, I’ve come to see hardship in the same way I’ve seen snow. We fall, struggle, mix with the earthiest parts of ourselves, and melt into puddles of who we are or who we once were.

What my son’s book doesn’t show, what he’ll learn as he grows, is that people can be both, happy and sad, at the same time.

I didn’t want her to grow up thinking that to be strong she had to put up an icy exterior. I wanted her to know that strength comes from vulnerability.

To the mom who lost her son last year, I want you to know that I remember.

How could you let CANCER in?

I realize now that what people were really looking for as they watched my grief unfold was reassurance that they, too, could survive this terrible thing if it happened to them.