Coping with Loss…

This was a tough month to write about.

Not because of the lack of subjects to explore, but rather because I wanted to do it right.

For those who have lost a loved one, you know the grieving process can be difficult.

Since I relaunched WGRamirez.com, I've gotten each series live no later the second Friday of every month. I missed it by a couple of days because I had to make sure I wrote with tact, and had to be sure I honored those who I was writing about properly.

As I do monthly, I have three stories for you - one personal, one feature and something nationally related to meet the theme of the month.

Marc-Andre Fleury will go down as one of the greatest goaltenders in NHL history. He is enjoying a career-best season, as of March 11, and is one of the favorites to win the Vezina Trophy. And it was one year ago this month he credits as a time that allowed him to gather his thoughts and revitalize mentally after his father had passed just four months earlier. It took some time, but Fleury said he is in a much better place.

Brooke Hawley was one of three teenagers killed when a drunk driver slammed into their stopped car at a stoplight. A fourth teen survived. Life as the Hawley family knew it - full of laughter, and vibrancy, and energy, and wildness, and love, and camping, and hunting, and trips to their cabin - ended abruptly. The Hawley's nightmare continues. They opened their home to me recently to discuss that it's not about coping, it's more about enduring a range of emotions every day.

Finally, I pay tribute to my own grandfather and explain how I was able to transition my pain of losing him while I was 23, avoid a cocaine binge and found an alternative route to coping with the loss of the biggest influence in my life while moving on to the next chapter.

Enjoy this month's edition and have a Blessed month.

Willie G.