Thanks for the kind thoughts for my birthday. I know I can look at it a different way, but I'm not there yet. For me, it represents the joy I felt when my husband Ray was in inpatient rehab at the V.A. and actually walked with support as a gift for me. 12 days later he was dead.

The death of a loved one—for me, my first child—is the loss of part of yourself. You cannot be the same afterwards. But … of course, you know that. I send hope that you'll cope with the new normal, and on your own time. And that well-meaning but broken people just … let you.