I'm so very happy to introduce you to this week's guest, author, poet, and blogger Mark Liebenow. Mark is one of the very few people I feel I can truly relate to in terms of his complex journey with grief. There is something about the way he writes that is very healing. His presence and the way he speaks about grief is very rare in my opinion. I was so immersed in his writing when I first discovered him and again in preparing for this conversation. I do hope you will explore Mark's work and world after listening to this episode. After the unexpected death of his first wife in 2001, he found that the writing he found about grief wasn't mirroring the complex emotional landscape that he was feeling. He found that the experience of grief made him more whole and able to express his emotions more fully, which has been a gift from this experience but also a regret that his wife Evelyn wasn't able to experience this side of him. "Grief opened a door to wholeness and I don't want to close it." ~ Mark Liebenow Mark speaks so beautifully about his journeys to Yosemite National Park after Evelyn's death, which he also documents in his book Mountains of Light, and how those trips and nature played an integral role in his grieving. He says he began to look at what nature had to say about life and death. He explains grief as a wilderness that has no trails. There is so much that we can learn from it. Grief can be a teacher, a catalyst for change, and even a grace. He explains that while in the woods he noticed that, "nature mourns it's losses for a moment, and then moves on because change is constant there. The lesson I learned from that is that all of life changes and we have to change with it." We also speak about his experience dating again after Evelyn's death and falling in love with his second wife Marcia. He and I both share some of the differences that happen with the new relationship and we wonder out loud what our first partners may think about who we are with now. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Mark Liebenow as much as I did. Please share it with your friends and family, and be sure to tag me if you share it on social media so that I can say thank you. I'm @christinarasmussen7 on Instagram and @ChristinaRasmussen2014 on Facebook. More About Mark Liebenow Mark Liebenow writes about the journey of grief, the wonder of nature, and the wisdom of fools. The author of four books, his essays and poems have been published in numerous journals, and his work has been nominated for three Pushcart Prizes and named a notable by Best American Essays. Mark writes a blog for all who grieve at http://widowersgrief.blogspot.com . His account of hiking in Yosemite to deal with his wife's death, Mountains of Light, was published by the University of Nebraska Press. You can connect with him via his website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram Things We Mention In This Episode Website: www.markliebenow.com Blog: A Widower's Grief Book: Mountains of Light; Seasons of Reflection in Yosemite, by Mark Liebenow Book: The Group: Seven Widowed Fathers Reimagine Life, by Donald Rosenstein and Justin Yopp Book: Where Did You Go? by Christina Rasmussen Book: Second Firsts by Christina Rasmussen Newsletter - Message In a Bottle: Sign up for Christina's weekly letter Apple podcast reviews and ratings are really important to help get the podcast in front of more people to uplift and inspire them too, which is the ultimate goal. Thank you!

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