Elin Stebbins Waldal

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A Memorial Day Love Story

May 24, 2015 By Elin Stebbins Waldal 24 Comments

Because my mother is no longer alive to ask, I try to imagine the emotions that would have been swirling through her mind as she entered Penn Station on an unknown day in early January of 1944—fear, excitement—surely she must have experienced both. It was cold then, temperatures hovered around 27 degrees—and although I don’t […]

Filed Under: Grief Tagged With: Love Story, Memorial Day, WASP, WWII

Losing Ellie

Nov 17, 2014 By elinwaldal 44 Comments

Losing Ellie, my husband’s mother, was one of the most difficult things our family has experienced. Nothing, and I mean nothing, could have prepared us for her unexpected loss of life. What I have found is emotions stay. They don’t remain at the surface the way dried blood does as a scab to the skin. No, emotional wounds are different. All that […]

Filed Under: Death of a Parent, Grief, NaBloPoMo Nov 14 Tagged With: car accident, Death of a loved one, Death of Mother, Grief, Love, Mother

I Never Expected to Grieve for My Mother

Aug 29, 2014 By Elin Stebbins Waldal 18 Comments

Lined up in the garage as if they are expecting us still are the dining room chairs of my youth. In all, there are five. Yet now, as if in a dream, I see eight. Eight wood chairs—each pushed under an antique table that, if you were not seated in the middle where the leaves […]

Filed Under: Grief Tagged With: Death of Mother, Grief

Write What Haunts You

Apr 27, 2014 By Elin Stebbins Waldal 18 Comments

“Write what haunts you, lest you spend your life amidst drivel. Write what you care most about, the beauty, the absurdity, and the sorrow of the world.”–Jane Resh Thomas In the quiet of an unoccupied room I exhaled the words I’d just read in a whisper… “Write what haunts you…” Had you asked me prior to […]

Filed Under: Grief, Just Write Tagged With: Death of Mother, Grief, Loss of Mother, Writing

Baking and Memory

Nov 28, 2013 By Elin Stebbins Waldal 2 Comments

Crouched down I retrieved the binder which is beyond bursting with recipes—some clipped from newspaper, some from magazines, while others were passed on. I knew what I was looking for when I flipped the tab marked “breads” to the side. Her long-hand penmanship came into view; involuntarily I sat on the cold tile beneath the […]

Filed Under: Grief, NaBloPoMo13 Tagged With: cooking, Death, Grandma, Grief, sweet rolls, Tradition

Folded, Hanging and Boxed: My Closet Life

Oct 30, 2013 By elinwaldal Leave a Comment

Whenever I purge my closet, I always imagine the results will be long-lasting. I know I’m deluding myself, but I consider indulging in the fantasy pretty cheap entertainment. There are articles of clothing which, no matter how long I keep them, still aren’t my style. The fact that they droop from flimsy wire hangers only […]

Filed Under: Grief, Life Lessons Tagged With: Closet Cleaning, Grief

My Parent’s Letters

Oct 8, 2013 By elinwaldal 12 Comments

“It was simple prophecy.” My mother used to say when describing both her vision and the prediction that she would marry my father the first time she laid eyes on him. “I could see it…” her hand opened in front of her as if she were showing me a painting, then with eyes closed, her […]

Filed Under: Grief, Marriage Tagged With: Grief, Love letters, Parents, The 1950's

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