I teach others how to tell their saddest stories. But when it came to my own brother’s loss, the words wouldn’t come — until they did.


After my brother Rob sustained a traumatic brain injury while riding his bicycle — yes, he was wearing a helmet — I was asked to teach a course called “Writing Through Grief.” I politely declined. It had only been a few months since he’d died, and I couldn’t deal with my own feelings of ambivalence and loss — let alone guide others who had been in a similarly dark place. Read more . . .