Joyful Sorrow – a Column by Kristin Neva

September 17, 2020September 14, 2020

The Burden of Knowing the Future

Columns, Joyful Sorrow - a Column by Kristin Neva

Lulu Wang’s film “The Farewell” is based on an actual lie. The 2019 comedic drama looks at a family’s decision to keep their matriarch ignorant of her stage IV ... Read more

September 10, 2020September 8, 2020

Gaining Perspective Through Journaling

Columns, Joyful Sorrow - a Column by Kristin Neva

Perspective can be hard to come by with ALS, but writing has helped me keep my head above water. I’ve kept a journal since I was a kid. I ... Read more

September 3, 2020September 1, 2020

Now, Our Favorite Restaurant Is Inaccessible to All

Columns, Joyful Sorrow - a Column by Kristin Neva

My husband, Todd, and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary in late August with a date at Fitzgerald’s, a restaurant built on the shore of Lake Superior in Eagle ... Read more

August 27, 2020August 25, 2020

Friends Who Can Handle Chronic Illness

Columns, Joyful Sorrow - a Column by Kristin Neva

In his book “Out of Solitude,” Henri Nouwen writes, “When we honestly ask ourselves which persons in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it ... Read more

August 20, 2020August 17, 2020

Taking Care of Unfinished Business

Columns, Joyful Sorrow - a Column by Kristin Neva

“That’s the one project I wish I could have finished,” my husband, Todd, said while looking out a window at Comet’s doghouse. He had expressed similar sentiment on other ... Read more

August 13, 2020August 11, 2020

Just Showing Up Is an Accomplishment

Columns, Joyful Sorrow - a Column by Kristin Neva

Years before my husband was diagnosed with ALS, I coordinated a tutoring program in Milwaukee. Many of the children and teens I worked with lived with stress and instability ... Read more

August 6, 2020August 3, 2020

Train Your Eyes to Find the Light

Columns, Joyful Sorrow - a Column by Kristin Neva

Weeks after my husband’s ALS diagnosis, we were still in shock, but we mustered ourselves for a family outing on my 33rd birthday. We planned the day around our ... Read more

July 30, 2020July 27, 2020

Snapshots of Life With ALS

Columns, Joyful Sorrow - a Column by Kristin Neva

“Thank God I didn’t have to cough this weekend,” my husband, Todd, said after his parents left. They had been visiting us from Minnesota. A couple months ago, his ... Read more

July 23, 2020July 21, 2020

Searching for a New Map

Columns, Joyful Sorrow - a Column by Kristin Neva

“I keep pulling it out — the old map of my inner path,” Joyce Rupp writes in her poem “Old Maps No Longer Work.” I was introduced to Rupp’s ... Read more

July 16, 2020July 13, 2020

Expanding World, Shrinking World

Columns, Joyful Sorrow - a Column by Kristin Neva

When I was a child, my elderly great-aunt Martha joined my family every Christmas Eve to participate in gift opening. I felt bad that she only got one present ... Read more