Usually I love the winter holidays. I have great memories from when I was little and my brothers created present treasure hunts for me and from when my nieces and nephews were kids and presented their own original holiday plays. I find the Chicago holiday lights cheerful and a great antidote to the sometimes dreary weather. But bright lights and parties and unrelenting good cheer, in my experience, can also make a person feel that much worse if the holiday occurs after a serious loss, during a d...
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holidays
When The (Holiday) World Revolves Around You
In early November I attended a cocktail party. A business acquaintance mentioned she was exhausted from traveling constantly for her work, which is international. I asked if she’d be able to be home for Thanksgiving, and she said yes. I then said I hoped she could be home for Christmas, too. She said, "So I'm Jewish--" and someone interrupted before we could finish the conversation. She didn't seem offended, but I was embarrassed that by default I’d asked about the holiday I grew up celebrating....
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Kind Words From A Stranger
The week of January 22, 2007, I received two phone calls from complete strangers. The first came on a snowy, bitter Monday evening. A chaplain from Loyola Hospital told me my father was in the emergency room. He needed some tests, and he might feel better if I were there. But when I arrived, I was shown into a small, private waiting room. A chaplain, the pastor from my parents' parish in Brookfield, and my cousin Marty, who lived about a mile from my parents, were there. Logic would have told me...
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