This is the fifth and final part in a series discussing the life and charts of Bob and his widow, Irene McGoldrick, MSW. Irene is the author of Two Chai Day: One Widow's Story about Living beyond Grief, published 2010 by iUniverse, Inc.

Irene’s chart (below) expresses a lot of activity and emotion, and it is full of challenges.  There are major planetary debilities, oppositions and squares, and difficult fixed stars at play.  Yet Irene seems to manage all this very well. 

In part four of this series we take a look at Irene's charts, with her permission.  Irene McGoldrick, MSW is the author of Two Chai Day: One Widow's Story about Living beyond Grief, published in 2010 by iUniverse, Inc.

Irene’s grief in the loss of Bob was intense, yet she knew she didn’t want to stay in that terrible place forever.  With great courage, Irene consciously opened herself up to whatever life might bring her next…. which turned out to be a second wonderful husband!  Irene married Mike in September 2006, two and a half years after the Two Chai Day.

This is part three of a five-part series examining the charts of my late friend, Bob.  I share this material with the permission of his widow, Irene McGoldrick, MSW, author of Two Chai Day: One Widow's Story about Living beyond Grief, published 2010 by iUniverse, Inc.

Before looking at the charts for Bob’s passing, let’s sojourn back to a happy event: the birth of Irene and Bob’s first child.

This is part two of a five-part series examining the charts of my late friend, Bob.  I share this material with the permission of his widow, Irene McGoldrick, MSW, author of Two Chai Day: One Widow's Story about Living beyond Grief, published 2010 by iUniverse, Inc.

The monster that we saw in Bob’s natal chart, threatening to devour him, was not just symbolic.  It took the form of the family barber, who molested Bob between the ages of seven and ten.  Bob’s dad would drop him off at the barber’s for a haircut while he left to run errands, never suspecting that the man was a predator.  Bob did not tell his dad or anyone about the abuse at the time.

Two years ago this month my friend Irene’s book, Two Chai Day: One Widow’s Story about Living beyond Grief, hit the bookstands.  It is the compelling and moving story of her husband Bob’s cancer diagnosis and death, and how she managed to pick up the pieces afterwards.

Bob was a loving husband, wonderful father, and good friend.  We met Irene and Bob in a birthing preparation class just before our babies were born in the summer of 2000.  From that birthing class sprang a small community of friends traveling down the path of new parenthood together.

We all lived through the experiences Irene chronicles in her book.  Bob’s death affected so many people, in rippling concentric circles of community.  He was well loved. It’s hard to believe it has been eight years since he died.