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Why???
Like all toddlers, Zatha and Hans went through that cute kid phase of asking, "Why?" to everything. You must clean up your toys before...
Mar 30, 2021


Her First Name Was Helen Marr
When Hans was a senior in high school, we tried to buy another, larger house close by in our neighborhood. I had long wanted my parents...
May 24, 2020


No Knot
This is the end of our fifth year without Hans. I don't feel as though I have anything profound to offer. Just the desperation I feel...
Mar 29, 2019


Just Franz
Real stories are so much more interesting than novels. Maybe that’s why we love to follow the lives of the famous, or people’s blogs....
Aug 7, 2018


The Jennifer Syndrome - It's a Grave Situation
I have not posted in over a year for reasons explained at the end. As we approach the fourth anniversary of Hans’s death we are not...
Mar 28, 2018


Happiness is Overrated
Trigger Warning: You will find no snowflakes or unicorns, no proverbial smiley faces, and only one rainbow below. There are no...
Dec 9, 2016


Changing the Channel
Sometimes I am brave enough to listen to the radio in the car when driving alone; not often, but occasionally. When I do, I turn the...
May 13, 2016


Cocktail Hour & the Calculus of Grief
Every day is exactly the same How many of you know the song by Nine Inch Nails, “Every Day is Exactly the Same”? I hum it regularly....
Mar 29, 2016


She Sang a Song for Hans
The Foam by Christina Archer (one of Hans's loves) When the water first touched my toes, you touched my lips. Together we waded into...
Jan 8, 2016


At War with Myself
“God created things which had free will. That means creatures which can go wrong or right. Some people think they can imagine a creature...
Oct 17, 2015


Yes, You Can Imagine
People have often said to me during this first year without Hans, “Jennifer, I just can’t imagine what you’re going through.” Yes, they...
Mar 29, 2015


Good Despite
People get tired pretty quickly of death, hearing about death, reading about death, talking about death, and I don’t blame them. It’s no...
Nov 30, 2014


Six Degrees to Kidneys
Six degrees of separation. It’s true. We are each connected to another in six or fewer steps of human association. This and the two posts...
Jul 27, 2014


The Difficult Path
Some have wondered about the connection to our friend, Chuck Hagel, who spoke at Zatha’s graduation and commissioning a few weeks ago,...
Jun 17, 2014


Oh God
Commissioning Week at the Naval Academy has ended and not once would Zatha visit Hans’s grave with us. She finds it a too-painful-to-bear...
May 31, 2014



























































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