Grief is incredibly hard work. And it's sacred work, not just something frivolous to indulge in while neglecting the "real" work that we're "supposed" to doing (like "getting past it" or "staying strong" or "making a living.") And the contours or "geography" of grief can resemble actual geological landscapes, from soaring and plunging, wild, dramatic mountains to endless, flat, monotonous plains -- each of which has something to teach us, questions to pose.

Last time I noted that the podcast had been on hiatus for almost a year and a half because of the death of my wife Kim. This episode begins to unpacks that reality a bit, to honor her … and to honor the reality that everyone, each of us, is touched by grief at some point in our lives. Each of us faces loss, heartbreak, devastation, suffering, loneliness. It’s universal, unavoidable, inescapable – and each of us experiences it in our own way. This time I’ll tell the story, the basics of what happened, by way of sharing with you a letter I wrote last spring to the multitalented performer Mandy Patinkin, star of stage and screen whose one-man show Kim and I went to see over in St. Paul, on what turned out to be our last date.

Season 2 kicks off with a lively conversation about all things superheroes, with TJ Warren. In this season of deep cultural division and despair, the creep of fascism and threats to democracy, we're well served by a re-launch episode that lifts our spirits, provides food for thought and nourishment for our souls, and invites us more deeply into the true selves that our families, our communities, the world need us to be.