Who I am.

I write about the landscape of grief, nature, and the wisdom of fools. The author of four books, my essays, poems, and reviews have been published in over 50 journals, including in the Huffington Post and Colorado Review. I’ve won the River Teeth Nonfiction Book Award, the Chautauqua and Literal Latte’s essay prizes, and my work has been nominated for four Pushcart Prizes and named a notable by Best American Essays. My account of hiking in Yosemite to deal with my wife’s death, Mountains of Light, was published by the University of Nebraska Press. http://www.markliebenow.com.

Showing posts with label Disney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Disney. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Fractured Fairy Tales

            Grief and fairy tales aren’t obvious dinner companions.

 

            When we’re grieving, we would dearly love for someone to ride in on a great white horse and rescue us. This seldom happens in real life. What we get instead is a coyote who appears on the trail, says, “Walk this way,” and heads deeper into the dark forest where we learn things we wouldn’t have understood otherwise.

 

            There is no “happy ever after” with grief because the only thing we want is for our loved ones to be back, and we know this isn’t going to happen. While our life down the road can still end up being pretty good, and there will be days with goo-gobs of joy, in the beginning, every memory of our loved one will come with a side order of grief.