Category Archives: Uncategorized

By Sherrie Ann Cassel And so here we find ourselves; it’s Christmas Eve – again. As a veteran griever, my son will have been gone 6 years on January 22, 2022 @ 5:55 p.m., I’ve learned to navigate the bittersweetness that is now part of me, a part I carry with me every day intoContinue reading “Hot Springs of Comfort and Joy”

By Sherrie Cassel Christmastime is here again. Next month, on the 22nd of January at 5:55 p.m., my son will have been gone for 6 years. I don’t know how it is possible that 6 years have passed; it feels like just yesterday I said goodbye to him. Or see you later, alligator. We findContinue reading “On the sunny side of the blues”

Always looking for great resources

By Sherrie Ann Cassel For Simone Biles I am in awe of young Simone Biles. Not just because she is a champion for mental health, but because her athleticism is magnificent. Watching her command the air in The Biles’ Triple is without a doubt, one of the wonders of the world. As Simone has sharedContinue reading “9.9”

By Sherrie Cassel The five and a half year angelversary of my son’s death has come and gone and the next one is waiting for me to catch up to it in January, a new year, another without my son. I know how much it hurts to love someone with every single cell in yourContinue reading “Scheduled Maintenance”

By Sherrie Ann Cassel Yesterday was a tough day, 5 ½ years since Rikki, my beautiful Rikki, left this world and broke my heart in the process. I try to not ruminate about the hell we went through when he was struggling, but sometimes when I’m looking at his picture, or watching old videos ofContinue reading “June Gloom”

By Sherrie Ann Cassel In the early days of grief, attempting to enumerate the infinite characteristics that made my son my favorite person in the whole world, hurt, almost mortally. I would listen to his voice mails over and over until I hurt so badly, I would curl up into a ball and weep –Continue reading “Yellowing Photographs”

By Sherrie Ann Cassel Many years and a dead child have caused me to become introspective — to a fault. Coming from confusing, dictatorial, and frightening Southern Baptist and Roman Catholic roots, guilt was my north star for much of my life. There are some things I should feel guilty about, and I do, butContinue reading “A New North Star”

By Sherrie Ann Cassel There are some junctures in the grief process where there are really only two options to healing from our grief: Choice A will lead you on the wildest and most amazing ride you could ever imagine, and Choice B will keep you stuck in the mire of grief. Seems like myContinue reading “Recovering nicely”

By Sherrie Ann Cassel nėe Gonzales Dedicated to Daddy, Macedonio M. Gonzales, a Marine of Marines Several lifetimes ago, I strove to de-combatisize my lexicon. I thought the combat genre could be relegated to the furthest reaches of the archives in our collective consciousness. Once again, I was proven to be incorrect in my assumption,Continue reading “The Battleground of Grief”