Author and lay theologian C.S. Lewis (short for Clive Staples Lewis), lived a full life steeped in education and literature. A prolific writer, Lewis authored more than 30 books across genres, including popular fantasy saga, The Chronicles of Narnia. Born in 1898 in Northern Ireland, Lewis would become one of the most esteemed writers of the 20th century.

Professionally successful, C.S. Lewis found love later in life. He fell deeply in love with American poet Helen Joy Davidman. The two married in 1956 when Lewis was 58 years old and Davidman was 41.

However, their marriage was short-lived. Davidman passed away from cancer in 1960 after struggling with tumors in her breasts that spread to her bones.

Lewis’ resulting grief turned into one of his most personal works that he had no intent on publishing: a journal he kept following her death that would later be titled A Grief Observed. Lewis used a pseudonym to publish it, N.W. Clerk, which is a pun on the Old English for “I know not what scholar,” according to the C.S. Lewis Institute.

Who was C.S. Lewis’ wife?

Helen Joy Davidman was born into a Jewish family in New York City in 1915, and went by “Joy.” She was extremely intelligent (called a ‘prodigy), and graduated high school at just 14. She went on to attend Hunter College for her undergraduate degree and Columbia University for her master’s degree.

She became a teacher and writer, and discovered her love and talent for poetry. She married a man named William Lindsay Gresham in 1942, and they had two boys. They officially divorced in 1954.

Davidsman was an atheist but searching for God, and became a Christian thanks in part to reading many of Lewis’ books, including: The Great Divorce, Miracles, and The Screwtape Letters. When she read an article on C.S. Lewis in The New York Times by a writer named Chad Walsh in 1948, her connection to Lewis began.

Walsh ultimately became her mentor, and he encouraged her to write to Lewis. She did in January 1950, and love eventually blossomed. They married on April 23, 1956.

She had battled health issues for years, and discovered in 1957 that she had serious cancer. She passed in July 1960 at the age of 45.

But their love had sustained them both. She wrote him romantic sonnets and he wrote to a friend, “It’s funny having at 59 the sort of happiness most men have in their twenties. . . [ellipses his] ‘Thou has kept the good wine till now.’”)

Davidson’s death absolutely gutted Lewis. He wrote a beautiful epitaph for her:

Here the whole world (stars, water, air,And field, and forest, as they wereReflected in a single mind)Like cast off clothes was left behindIn ashes, yet with hopes that she,Re-born from holy poverty,In lenten lands, hereafter mayResume them on her Easter Day.

Lewis famously compared grief to fear. He wrote in A Grief Observed:

“No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid. The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness, the yawning. I keep on swallowing.“

He candidly expressed his process through grief in relation to fear, explaining that he feared going to “our favorite pub, our favorite wood.”

Lewis also wrote on fearing the future with grief: “This is one of the things I’m afraid of. The agonies, the mad moments, must, in the course of nature die away. But what will follow? Just this apathy, this dead flatness?“

A Grief Observed is revered for Lewis’ brutal honesty about grief, including his anger and questioning of God:

“But go to Him when your need is desperable, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double-bolting on the inside. After that, silence.”

As former president of the C.S. Lewis Institute Arthur W. Lindsley wrote in 2001, “the process was not pretty or easy. The path was much clouded by fear, doubt, and anger before the gradual lifting of the darkness and breaking through of the sun.”

Lightness did come back to Lewis unexpectedly and gradually:

“It came this morning, early … my heart was lighter than it had been for many weeks… like the warming of a room or the coming of daylight. When you first notice them, they have been already going on for some time.“

While a bottle of bubbles might seem out of place in a hospital setting, you might be surprised to learn that, for thousands of children around the world born with cleft lip and palate, they can be a helpful tool in comprehensive cleft care. Lilia, who was born with cleft lip and palate in 2020, is one of the many patients who received this care. 

As a toddler, Lilia underwent two surgeries to treat cleft lip and palate with Operation Smile’s surgical program in Puebla, Mexico. Because of Operation Smile’s comprehensive care, it wasn’t long before her personality transformed: Lilia went from a quiet and withdrawn toddler to an exuberant, curious explorer, babbling, expressing herself with a variety of sounds, and engaging with others like any child her age. 

Lilia is now a healthy five-year-old, with the same cheerful attitude and boundless energy. Her progress is the result of care at every level, from surgery to speech therapy to ongoing support at home—but it’s also evidence that small, sustained interventions throughout it all can make a meaningful difference. 

Cleft Conditions: A Global Problem

Since 1982, Operation Smile has provided cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries to more than 500,000 patients worldwide with the help of generous volunteers and donors. Cleft conditions are congenital conditions, meaning they are present at birth. With cleft lip and palate, the lip or the roof of the mouth do not form fully during fetal development. Cleft conditions put children at risk for malnutrition and poor weight gain, since their facial structure can make feeding challenging. But cleft conditions can have an enormous social impact as well: Common difficulties with speech can leave kids socially isolated and unable to meet the same developmental milestones as their peers. 

Surgery is a vital step in treating cleft conditions, but it’s also just one part of a much larger solution. Organizations like Operation Smile emphasize the importance of multi-disciplinary teams that provide comprehensive, long-term care to patients across many years. This approach, which includes oral care, speech therapy, nutritional support, and psychosocial care, not only aids in physical recovery from surgery but also helps children develop the skills and confidence to eat easily, speak clearly, and engage in everyday life. This ensures that each patient receives the full range of support they need to thrive. 

A Playful (and Powerful) Solution

Throughout a patient’s care, simple tools like bubbles can play a meaningful role from start to finish. 

Immediately before surgery, children are often in a new and unfamiliar environment far from home, some of them experiencing a hospital setting for the first time. When care providers or loved ones blow bubbles, it’s a simple yet effective technique: Not only are the children soothed and distracted, the bubbles also help create a sense of joy and playfulness that eases their anxiety. 

In speech therapy, bubbles can take on an even more important role. Blowing bubbles requires controlled airflow, as well as the ability to form a rounded “O” shape with the lips, which are skills that children with cleft conditions may struggle to develop. Practicing these skills with bubbles allows children to gently strengthen their facial muscles, improve breath control, and support the motor skills needed for speech development. Beyond that, blowing bubbles can help kids connect with their parents or providers in a way that’s playful, comforting, and accessible even for very young patients. 

Finally, bubbles often follow patients with cleft conditions home in the “smile bags” that each patient receives when the surgical procedure is finished. Smile bags, which help continue speech therapy outside of the hospital setting, can contain language enrichment booklets, a mirror, oxygen tubing, and bubbles. While regular practice with motor skills can help with physical recovery, small acts of play help as well, giving kids space to simply enjoy themselves and join in on what peers are able to do.

Bubbles at Home and Beyond

Today, because of Operation Smile’s dedication to comprehensive cleft care, Lilia is now able to make friends and speak clearly, all things that could have been difficult or impossible before. Instead of a childhood defined by limitation, Lilia—and others around the world—can look forward to a childhood filled with joy, learning, discovery, friends, and new possibilities.  

CTA: Lilia’s life was changed for the better with the care she received through Operation Smile. Find out how you can make an impact in other children’s lives by visiting operationsmile.org today. 

George Washington became the first President of the United States on April 30, 1789. Born in 1732, he was raised in Virginia and dedicated to the formation of the United States of America (after previously being called the ‘United Colonies‘.)

Both his military and political service led to Washington developing many deep friendships throughout his life. He died at his Mount Vernon estate in 1799.

“Among his friends, Washington also showed a capacity for intimacy and playfulness that was largely absent from his........

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