When Family Brings Us Back to Who We Were

By Steve Schlafman in family dynamics on

"If you think you're enlightened, spend a week with your family" —Ram Dass Returning to the place you grew up is always layered with complexity. As the journey nears, anticipation and trepidation may build—excitement mixed with nostalgia, or perhaps a sense of dread shadowed by…

Dear Dad

By Steve Schlafman in grief on

One year ago today, my father, Mark Schlafman, passed away peacefully at the age of 80 after living with dementia for four years. On this anniversary, I decided to write him a letter expressing what’s alive in me right now. Writing letters, whether to those still with us or…