Healing from Loss: Finding Myself, My Work

newhat “Mom, I locked my key in the car. Can you do me a favor?” my son calls me on my cell phone.

I am about to dive into a chocolate cake and two bottles of aged port with friends. We are twelve miles north of Ithaca. I will have to go home first to find his spare keys before I drive to the downtown restaurant where he is stuck.

“I’ll be right there,” I say. Then I drive the dark empty country roads and the wet city streets reflecting store lights, singing “I’m being followed by a Moon Shadow.” That’s how much I want to be needed, to be doing something, to have a goal and have work.

I’m addicted to working.

But no one wants to hire a photo-shopper, another writer, an out-loud reader, or someone who will drop everything to rescue a bad situation. It’s time to get creative. To remedy the lack of a job, get out of the house, and keep my self-esteem I have started to write a semimonthly column called Up and Out for a small online newsletter, www.tinytowntimes.com. If you enjoy my writing please check it out. Except for this first introduction, it will be an exploration of the overlooked and under-appreciated gems to be found in a tiny town like Ithaca, New York.

So now I’m wearing a new hat. Actually it’s an old one that belonged to my daughter. But it fits. If it weren’t for her and all her words I found after she died, I would never have discovered my own love for writing.

Sometimes when you lose someone you find someone or something else. I’m finding myself. And all the things I never imagined I could do.

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4 thoughts on “Healing from Loss: Finding Myself, My Work

  1. Lynne Taetzsch

    Good for you, Robin! It’s hard to believe you didn’t know you were a writer when you write such great stuff!

    I didn’t know about the TinyTownTimes until you mentioned it. Sounds like fun!

    Lynne

    Reply
  2. Mary Diane Hausman

    Hello Robin,
    As always your words bring hope, healing, and wonder! However, this time, I do sense something different– the push in you comes through your words. It’s wonderful you will be writing more in more venues reaching more people!
    Enjoy it all, embrace it all, love it all,
    Best,
    Mary Diane

    Reply

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