Grief Diary #47: Keeping the Mess

We all have a messy corner in our homes. The corner that collects all the mess, the jest, and the rest. For some, it’s the kitchen counter or a stool by the door. For…

Grief Diary #46: Unmelting Snow Mound

In July 2026, a mound of black snow in North York, Ontario, resists heatwaves to maintain the status quo from the big snowstorm of December 2025. Although I used to live in the area,…

Grief Diary #45: Dancing in the Square

As I watched couples dance the Bachata in the Cambridge Square, I wondered, when have I danced carefree like this last? At a friend’s 40th birthday house party, a friend I don’t hang out…

Grief Diary #44: The Achoring Anchor

None of us wants to admit that we had imperfect childhoods, unless it’s absolutely undeniable. But the power of looking imperfection in the eye and charging towards it is the first step of healing….

Grief Diary #43: Olive Branch

I once gave a boy an olive branch with a few olives, not too many that might signify a budding romance, but just enough to hint at an arm’s-length friendship. But what he did…

Grief Diary #42: The Stages of a Meal (and Grief)

A friend visiting me in Toronto took me to my first-ever Michelin Star restaurant a few years back. The menu here was exquisitely sparse and used limited-edition ingredients I wasn’t familiar with. Since the…

Grief Diary #41: The Final Countdown

I got to be an official aunt for the last time when my ex-husband’s sister and her family visited us in Toronto in 2019. What I mean by “official” is to be the legally…

Grief Diary #40: Trinkets of Coupledom

It was a sunny but cold Sunday in Toronto. As I spotted the perfect bench overlooking the Grenadier Pond at High Park, I quickened my pace so no one would beat me to it….

Grief Diary #39: Cathedrals in the Sky

“From tiny experiences we build cathedrals.” ~ Orhan Pamuk

He always sat to my left, the devil’s side. As we were dining and watching a scary movie on his gray sofa, I realized that our…