Next week, Cyndy’s and my family will be taking care of an important element of life: saying “goodbye” to a loved one. We humans need closure, and we need to properly and ritually say “goodbye” to someone we love who has died. Three years ago, Cyndy’s brother, Don Brainerd, died...

Growing up, my childhood never had any encounters with grief at a significant level. Though I would hear about old family members who I had little knowledge of passing away, I would never know what that grief felt like. That would change this year. On November 1st my grandfather took...