By Sherrie Cassel I listen to Taylor Swift’s LIFE OF A SHOW GIRL at least three times per day; it speaks to me; it speaks to me about an innocence I was not fortunate to experience in my childhood. Sixty-four years later, it’s really okay now. I’ve learned to absorb all the amazing experiences inContinue reading “Tap Dancing through the Grief Process”
Author Archives: Grief to Gratitude
Transitional Objects
By Sherrie Cassel I’m staring at the dried, yellow flowers immortalized in clear resin and mounted on a piece of dark wood. This is a gift my son gave to me when he was just a young child. With no child support from a dead-beat biological father, money was always tight, and thrift stores wereContinue reading “Transitional Objects”
Holding Space for Uncertainty: Hope
By Sherrie Cassel If I ask you Point blank, “Do you believe in an afterlife?”, please know that I am desperately searching for my son in the promised mansions, or in the swirling energy, his Holy Spirit dancing with mine? If I ask you if you believe in heaven, without hesitation, just know thatContinue reading “Holding Space for Uncertainty: Hope”
Momma said there’ll be days like this…
By Sherrie Cassel So, no news is good news, right? Well, maybe on some days. I haven’t written anything for this page for a spell. My absence has been both good and challenging. Life is to be lived fully when not in crisis, and I’ve been fortunate to have smooth sailing for a bit. OurContinue reading “Momma said there’ll be days like this…”
The Probability of Forever
By Sherrie Ann Cassel There’s a tear in the fabric of the Universewhere you have slipped through,inaccessible in a black hole. The tear mimics the onein my heart,deep as the ocean, in which I cannotsee the bottom.The water is too murky. Your life seemsto have passedin the blink of an eye.Where did you goso quickly?Continue reading “The Probability of Forever”
Dukkha: Is Suffering Optional?
By Sherrie Cassel To love someone, especially in Christocentric faith traditions, one must prove her love through suffering. How many love songs and love stories have been written about this very thing, and maybe even your own relationships, and the sagas of your friends and family in which all characters have suffering and drama prettyContinue reading “Dukkha: Is Suffering Optional?”
Portrait of an Old Woman as a Young Artist
By Sherrie Cassel “But I was so much older then; I’m younger than that now.” ~Bob Dylan~ In the phenomena of living things oxymorons are plentiful. The word oxymoron originated in Greece. The word means, basically, double-sided, two-edged, one side sharp, and the other side dull. Perhaps indicative of the ability to choose between twoContinue reading “Portrait of an Old Woman as a Young Artist”
One Tin Soldier
By Sherrie Cassel It’s so hard to not ruminate on the days leading up to Rikki’s death, when he was so sick and weak – and I was terrified. I try to not think about those things as the anniversary, the tenth, approaches. I just found myself doubled over in pain as a memory piercedContinue reading “One Tin Soldier”
As stone is to flint
By Sherrie Cassel As my older brother riffled through our dead mother’s belongings, I sat and waited for his assault on my mother’s last belongings to be over. Her calendar of her days, when each of her children visited or she spoke with us on the phone were priceless items I could not part withContinue reading “As stone is to flint”
On this First Day of the Year
By Sherrie Cassel On this first day of the year, I pledge to honor my emotions as they arise, the good, the bad, and the infantile. Hey, it happens. On this first day of the year, I pledge to be like Michael J. Fox and Stephen Hawking, who, despite their challenges, continue to inspire. OnContinue reading “On this First Day of the Year”
Grief to Gratitude 