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Tracie Chavonne's avatar

When I read, “Grief trickles down through the cracks in our defences, fertilising the depths where richer, vibrant love and connection are fed long before the sunshine even touches them,” immediately I wanted to ask you, how do you do it? How do you write something like that? Where does writing like that come from? And as I further read your blog, I got my answer. When you write like this, it comes from a place you’ve lived in. It’s an exclusive community and membership comes at a premium. Some people think they want to live there as writers but the mortgage is too high. The cost is life…a cost that weighs on your soul, heavy hanging heart and hearth. Tara, I am so sorry for your family’s lost, for the cost. There is no measure of gratitude I can express to you for sharing your grief with us. Thank you.

I used to tell myself over and over again, life will never give me more than I can handle - that I was made for whatever was placed in front of me. Yet every time I was taken to a place of extreme questioning, my faith was tested in ways that I felt went beyond my existence. I wanted to die and did my best to rush death. But the places I was brought to… I didn’t know I existed there. I was alive there, too. And I, we, you, all of us are still existing and alive right now. There but for the grace of god, We go.

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Lisa Theriault's avatar

I have been to the very brink of where you tread. A suicide attempt, done in secret not the oft “cry for help”, but a seriously planned and made attempt foiled only by a simple happenstance. To tuck in an adult child and finding her near death, the entire contents of a pill box consumed. Rapid medical intervention was successful with no residual effects on the physical person, but the hard work was ahead. A lifetime of work on the spirit and mind for her and us. I cannot know why I was spared and cannot help but feel grateful for my fortune. The time since has fostered my reverence of the moment, even though I work in a world of death and the intimacy of this, I did not fully appreciate the collective moments of life. I hope I continue to savor these for all my days.

I do know that I savor your wise, unflinching counsel and the community you have built for us in this world of superficial connection. This gift you continue to give is absolutely priceless 💙💙

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