I used to tell stories for a living, but telling your own story is different. It’s scary, and it’s hard, and it exposes you. And that’s why it’s important. People aren’t good at grief, and that’s because we don’t share it. We hide it away and expect those living through it to do the same.
My family is grieving. And we are also joyful. We are scared, and we are hopeful. We laugh, and then we cry. All of these emotion exist together. Usually, they overlap. Sometimes we know we are doing it right. Sometimes we are barely holding on.
This is our story. And here’s where I tell it.
Read.
In June 2019, my husband, Chris, was diagnosed with ALS and given 6-12 months to live. Almost immediately afterward I started writing about our experiences and, eventually, started publishing my stories here. I chronicled my family’s journey with terminal illness and, since losing Chris in September 2023, our journey with the grief of life without him.
I am not an expert on grief or sadness, I am just a person who has been forced to reckon with mortality and loss in a very constant way. I write to process my feelings, to shed light on grief and loss — feelings that are universal but that we often keep hidden away from the rest of the world — and, maybe mostly, to remind myself that while there is so much sadness behind me and perhaps much more sadness in front of me, sadness is not all there is in this life.
Listen.
When Chris was diagnosed, I avoided other people's sad stories as a rule, but as time wore on I found myself seeking them out. After more than a year of writing about our life on my blog, I learned there is comfort in knowing how others have loved, lost and kept going. I also realized there’s a need out there for more spaces to talk about these hard parts of our lives.
Sorry, I'm Sad is a podcast that chronicles our story in real-time, from our desperate early days, to the hopefulness of a promising clinical trial, to the heartbreaking setbacks and all the microcosms of grief in between. Before he died, Chris joined me for conversations about our experiences, while I also I talked to others about grief, loss and the importance of hope.
About.
I’m a journalist and freelance writer who has covered Major League Baseball and other professional sports for the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Minneapolis Star Tribune and St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press. I covered the Minnesota Twins for five seasons, voted for American League MVP twice, covered the MLB postseason more than once and won awards.
And then I quit. I was pregnant with our first child when Chris got a job in Calgary, Alberta, and I walked away from my career to move to Canada and be a mom.
I created this website when I decided to start writing again. Not long after, Chris was diagnosed with ALS. I quickly learned that writing is cathartic for me and started to share our story publicly.
