Author: ameliaborealis

Anniversaries are hard, regardless of the number. The first time I attended a support group after my husband passed away, I met a tall woman in her forties and asked her how long it had been since her husband passed. Eight years, was her reply. Only about a year into the journey myself, I asked […]

My toddler loves puzzles and is a whiz at them. If we competed, he would win. He has an eye for how the picture goes together even without seeing what the image is meant to look like, first. With the speed and confidence of some divine being, he gleefully dispatches each piece into a beautiful […]

What is reality? How is it related to the space around us and our perception of time? How is it related to spirit and meditation or prayer? When you get in your car to go to work in the morning, what do you see when you look out? Do you see passersby? The road ahead? […]

This morning I woke to a joyful voice. “Hey! Wake up!” I recognized the voice, and my eyes shot open. Manny? No one there. Propped on an elbow, I stared into the empty room, waiting. Nothing more. Glancing over at my partner sleeping peacefully, I pulled the covers back and hung my legs over the […]

It’s been six and a half years, and not a minute has gone by that I haven’t missed him. I still get the wind knocked out of me when I see his photos. I still want to scream with all my might when I recall that he’s gone from this dream I’m still living; from […]

I always had a green thumb. More importantly, though, perhaps – I felt actual love for the plants I was raising. I was beyond excited when they sprouted, and delighted to watch them grow and strengthen. Raising them up felt like more than a hobby; rather, once I was aware that the plant existed, I […]

Mother Teresa said that some people come into your life as blessings, and others come into your life as lessons. I think through the chapters of my story; the towering wilderness, the polished sloping hills, the impossible walls that nevertheless I scaled. For a moment I’m nearly proud of myself, but then I remember that […]

I was 30 and just-married when my husband passed away inexplicably. Two weeks after he passed, the U.S.  celebrated a major holiday, and a few weeks after that came another, and then another. I was home with my parents, and still so raw and in shock, when all the extended family began pouring in with […]

She was there when he was dying. She knew death, and she had found us, as though summoned from the ether by my horror. She possessed me, body and soul, while I screamed, as he was passing away in my arms. She came and went mysteriously, after that. In the early days, her arrival was […]

Human Rights, Climate Change, the election, and much more – all have been recent divisive topics on social media. In fact, it seems that social media has been the behemoth for societal change in the last five years. When enough people raised their voices, it garnered the attention of politicians and law-makers. There are plenty […]