Sometimes Sadness Feels Happy By Jeffrey Pillow on May 3, 2019 — 3 mins read My son reached over on his nightstand and brought up my dad’s old brown leather billfold my mom had given him not long ago on a trip home to visit. I remember my dad’s wallet well — the too full block that etched a hole in the bottom left corner of his back pocket, stuffed with cards and to-do notes he had written himself during his life. More
Your Story Matters: Processing Pain and Trauma By Jeffrey Pillow on January 8, 2018 — 4 mins read Serani continues, pointing to humans' basic need to understand, citing research that to begin the healing process we must tell our story: "Our personal narrative offers us a chance for not just understanding, but for reorganization [of] our sense of self. A self that was wounded, broken, frightened or lost—but can now be reclaimed." More
My Dad Died, But He Is Not Dead By Jeffrey Pillow on December 6, 2017 — 4 mins read Something kids of dead parents know is this: it gets better, but only when you accept the pain and look the suffering in the eye and ask, “What do you want me to know? What is it you want me to know?” That’s what I’ve come to understand since my dad died. It’s only then things... More
Where My Father Once Stood By Jeffrey Pillow on July 7, 2017 — 1 min read The urine had long dried at the base of the toilet. Embedded within the dried urine were tiny specs of hair about a quarter- to a half-inch long. The tiny specs were pine needles fallen at the base of a once mighty tree. The urine and fallen hair were reminders of where my dad once stood. More
When Depression Comes to the Workplace By Jeffrey Pillow on July 1, 2017 — 2 mins read On January 29, 2010, eight months after my dad died from leukemia, my depression reached its peak and I attempted to quit my job. That morning in an email to my manager and director, I wrote... More
