A time of grieving is, at its best, spent stepped back from the everyday flow of life. It is a time that is infused with focused introspection, holy moments and amazing personal evolvement, as well as periods of nearly unfathomable pain, sadness, loneliness and often deep, gut-level angst. As unlikely as it sounds, this combination is exactly that which best takes us into our healing.

Inadequately addressed grief does not just eventually go away by itself. Many, now more than ever before, are left carrying burdens of unresolved loss. Our fast-paced and often harried society has spawned abbreviated patterns of grief expression that simply do not make the grade.

Our wish would be that our youth never felt the sting of death; the reality, however, is - they do. It is our responsibility as adults to support this important segment of our society by first acknowledging that they do, in fact, experience and grieve their losses and secondly by devoting the time and the care that is necessary to adequately shepherd them all the way through - all the way to the full, life-affirming resolution that can accompany deep work.

This journal is age appropriate in content and design; those just entering the age of reason right up to those maturing in their college years will all gain significant growth through its use. Ms. Hawley has created this book especially for them. Her thoughtfully developed ideas, relevant information, sensitive interpretation of feelings, and use of involvement tools have all been set forth in this year-long, interactive gift. Time spent in daily use opens the reader to their loss, at deep and important levels, but does so in measured stretches designed to support rather than overwhelm.

Leah Bailey Hawley knew from a young age that she wanted to become a nurse. She did not know, however, that a lifelong interest and a 35-year practice would bring her to this place of adopting, full-time, multiple roles in Family Support as related to loss through death.

In addition to traditional educational preparation for a nursing career, Leah obtained specialty training at the graduate level from one of only two schools in the United States that Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, the pioneer 'Mother of Death and Dying', ever put her name and blessing to; Leah carries her certification in Death Education and Grief Work.

No longer involved in hospital nursing, Leah now writes and continues to work as a Special Assistance Team Member for Kenyon International Emergency Services, the world leader in mass fatality disaster response. She served in New York City immediately following the September 11, 2001 attacks and more recently was deployed to Phuket Island, Thailand, following the 2004 tsunami disaster.

Leah and her husband, Brian, reside in Fountain Hills, Arizona and cherish time spent with their son, Matthew, and their extended families at their homestead on Keuka Lake in the Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York.