Category Archives: Uncategorized

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”

By Sherrie Cassel Life isn’t fair; I don’t know why I’ve thought all these years that life should be, that after all I’ve been through, life should be kinder to me, and that somehow, I was entitled to fairness (in lieu of justice, of course). Instead, I developed a hateful persona who hurt a lotContinue reading “Lemonade”

When I first began this blog, I was a hot mess. I spilled my guts, grief in every entrail. Sorry to be so graphic, but those of us who have ever lost someone to whom we were intensely and emotionally tied, know that it hurts more than there are words with which to describe allContinue reading “A Tall Order”

By Sherrie Cassel Five years have passed since my son died; this is to say, it has been five years since I hugged my son, stood on my toes to kiss his forehead, or heard his voice, his laugh, tended to his tears, knew he was just a phone call away. Five years is aContinue reading “Grief as a Vehicle”

By Sherrie Ann Cassel I haven’t written a poem in years. In language is where I thrive. I once fancied myself a poet, and I definitely have had some winners, but by and large, I’m no Amy Clampitt or Mary Oliver, I’ve had some true WTH was I trying to say here moments too. IContinue reading “The Poetry of Dissonance”

By Sherrie Ann Cassel I’m thinking, which is not always a good thing, about facilitating a women’s Bible study on the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus. It is called A Woman Overwhelmed. I think we all, mothers and fathers, especially in America, overwhelm ourselves. Sometimes, as we know from losing a child, lifeContinue reading “Grief on the Run”