BETH'S LOSS

We here at Smart Girls Read Romance send sincere condolences to Beth Trissel. A few days ago, her younger brother Chad died as the result of a traumatic brain injury he received several years ago. Please join us in sending Beth and her family prayers.

Beth is one of the truly nice people we are fortunate to meet occasionally—even if the friendship is only online. In addition to writing, she is a farm wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, and aunt. She has taught classes on herbal plants and their uses.

I’m sharing a poem by Mary E. Frye that we use in our family when we have a loss:

Immortality
Do not stand at my grave and weep,

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glint on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you wake in the morning hush,

I am the swift, uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circling flight.

I am the soft starlight at night.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am not there, I do not sleep.

Do not stand at my grave and cry.

I am not there, I did not die!

What is lovely never dies, But passes into other loveliness. Thomas Bailey Aldrich

To desire and expect nothing for oneself and to have profound sympathy for others is genuine holiness. Ivan Turgenev

“We need never be ashamed of our tears.”
Charles Dickens

“Do not apologize for crying. Without this emotion, we are only robots.”
Elizabeth Gilbert

“Those who do not know how to weep with their whole heart don't know how to laugh either” 
― Golda Mier