The Grievers Garden

The Grievers Garden Grief recovery specialist. Grief, after all; is just love trying to find a new home.

I just watched “Goodbye June” and of course i ended in a puddle of tears. While I read some mixed reviews about how this...
01/13/2026

I just watched “Goodbye June” and of course i ended in a puddle of tears. While I read some mixed reviews about how this film could have used this subject matter of a mother dying in a more explorative way, it held some poignant moments that really stood out.
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A tender moment was captured in this off the cuff quote “you don’t mind if I die, do you darling?” felt so human. So raw. And that’s what u loved the film for. Even if it went too cliche in parts with wrapping up all these characters issues in two weeks, it’s a powerful reminder that we need art to explore themes like death and grief. For people to create things that take us into conversation about subjects that society pushed to the shadows is important, even if it’s never perfectly captured.

Hello 2026. My 26 goals for 2026:1. My heart to keep growing softer.2. Keep showing up in all my “too much-ness”.3. Cont...
01/03/2026

Hello 2026. My 26 goals for 2026:
1. My heart to keep growing softer.
2. Keep showing up in all my “too much-ness”.
3. Continue shouting out loud about grief care more than ever
4. To keep saying the “f-word” because it’s funny - and technically a nervous system regulatory.
5. To care less about laundry and having a clean house and care more about filling it with guests, food, and joy.
6. To travel - even if it’s just as far as that cute bakery I keep meaning to go to
7. listen to more songs that break my heart and sing it back together
8. See the magic in humans - even when the world is literally falling apart, I will keep falling in love with this messy little life.
9. To prioritize therapy again.
10. To find rest in community.
11. To show up for others often.
12. To unlearn toxic ideas still floating around in my ever learning brain.
13. To learn more about what love looks like, what grief looks like, what joy looks like- not just for me, but for others.
14. To be a wildfire of silliness. To not take things too seriously unless it’s things that are seriously needing to be taken seriously.
15. To remember that time is the one thing I’ll never get more of. To spend it wisely and equally dilly dally, and be frivolous with the silliness of life.
16. To remain committed to the idea that romantic love is not the pinnacle of a life well lived - pursue intimacy in friendship, family and nature AND FOOD.
17. To eat deliciously, the pasta, the pizza, the strawberries, the kind of melon that juice runs down your chin, mint ice cream, squishy avocado on toast, roasted potatoes and Yorkshire puddings and dairy milk chocolate.
18. To use this phone less.
19. To love my children with the best of me and not the crumbs left over at the end of the day.
20. To give myself grace when some days the crumbs are the best of me. Have you ever had a crumble?
21. To read books.
22. To stretch my body
23. To play an instrument
24. To grieve unashamedly
25. To create fun things with no expectations or plan
26. To keep growing old

Some must reads to add to the 2026 reading list! I have listened to all of them on audible because often early in my gri...
01/01/2026

Some must reads to add to the 2026 reading list! I have listened to all of them on audible because often early in my grief journey I couldn’t concentrate on text but I was desperate to soak up more on others sharing about grief. Also ADHD + busy schedule I have found I can enjoy books through too.
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These books aren’t all necessarily “grief themed” - but they have profoundly expanded my empathy, continued curiosity into the human experience of grief, joy and living a life that soaks up the whole spectrum of emotions.
1. Wild edge of sorrow is the closest I’ve ever come to saying THIS IS THE BEST BOOK OF ALL TIME. I dare you to try it
2. The beauty of what remains is so tender and shows us the ways we can move forward with a life of beauty while continuing to move with the love and grief we have been through.
3. Ebb and flow was such a beautiful surprise. I listened out of curiosity and found grief, joy, decolonizing grief and life woven throughout the exploration of our connection with water.
4. Your body is a revolution - my friend wrote this book and it’s a must read for EVERYONE. I stepped into deeper healing as I let Tara’s words flow over me.
5. From here to eternity- a book of travelling the world to explore what a good death looks like. This is eye opening, interesting, and continue to cultivate my curiosity for expanding how death, dying and grief can looks different.

What grief has taught me in 2025 (the very short list!)
12/31/2025

What grief has taught me in 2025 (the very short list!)

As I spend the holidays in my homeland of England, I’ve compiled some grief tips with a for a great British grief off. 1...
12/27/2025

As I spend the holidays in my homeland of England, I’ve compiled some grief tips with a for a great British grief off.
1. Dilly dally
2. Risk it for the biscuit
3. Have a good chin wag
4. Have a kip

As many of us plan to gather with family and friends this holiday season, be sure to invite grief to the table. Let’s ge...
12/19/2025

As many of us plan to gather with family and friends this holiday season, be sure to invite grief to the table. Let’s get over the idea that talking about those who has died, or to hold sadness wit joy in this season is “bringing the room down”. No! It’s a vulnerability and honesty that breeds authentic community and relationship. Bring grief back to the table.
1. Light one candle once you are all sat, and say “we light this in memory of those we wish were still physically here”.
2. Set an empty seat at the table to make space for your people who have died.
3. Hang a stocking and have people add memories and stories of the people who have did.
4. Make their favourite food
5. Share a toast and clink those glasses

Get creative! Share any ideas below for others to see!

Last week we said an official goodbye to Birdie Bear - our beloved family cat. This was the first time I’ve ever hosted ...
11/22/2025

Last week we said an official goodbye to Birdie Bear - our beloved family cat. This was the first time I’ve ever hosted or attended a “cat funeral”. As weird as it sounds to some, this was such a meaningful time to invite our village to come commemorate Birdie. That his little life mattered. Ritual really helps us move our grief, set a figurative stone to say “this happened. This mattered.” My oldest shared a slideshow, my middle child, a story, and my youngest a poem. I am so proud of them- for having open hearts, for inviting friends in, for loving deeply.
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Those who know me, know i have never been a “pet person”, but this loss has humbled me. Changed me for the better. And taught me that even the smallest of paws can nestled into my heart.

This quote has become my most shared quote from grief literature. Wild edge of sorrow by Francis Weller
11/22/2025

This quote has become my most shared quote from grief literature. Wild edge of sorrow by Francis Weller

Grief is not looking to be cured but to be cared for.
11/18/2025

Grief is not looking to be cured but to be cared for.

The kids and I eat pancakes every Friday for supper (Pancake Fridays) since 2017 when our world was turned upside down. ...
11/15/2025

The kids and I eat pancakes every Friday for supper (Pancake Fridays) since 2017 when our world was turned upside down. I left the abusive marriage I was in with their dad, my own dad get diagnosed with terminal cancer three weeks later, and the we moved back to England to be closer to family. Pancake Friday was birthed in a year of deep pain and sadness and it was one night a week where I felt like me- the mother I wanted to be, the fun person i found it hard to find. We played loud music, danced, and ate yummy food.
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A couple years back we decided to have “ice cream for supper”. My middle children (definitely the funny kid) exclaims “look at us interrupting the rules of life”. We all howled laughing - and as I reflected on it, it reminded me how important it is to interrupt the rules of life with something fun, silly, joyful snd playful. It’s especially been important for me and the kids in our grief, as loss really has interrupted our lives in the ways we wish it never had. So taking back this ritual, choosing playful ways to make life fun again- and now we have coined the phrase “interrupt the rules of life”.
How could you do this in your own life?

It was 4 years last weekend since my beloved grandma died. She’s always been my favourite person, and everyone knew it. ...
10/24/2025

It was 4 years last weekend since my beloved grandma died. She’s always been my favourite person, and everyone knew it. She was kind, hilarious and loving- giving us a magical childhood anytime we spent it with her.
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She struggled a lot in her life, from being raised by her grandmother because she was born “out of wedlock”, having no father, and her pregnancy with my dad, forced her into a harmful marriage with my grandfather. All three of her sons died before her- and it’s a grief of my own to have witnessed my grandmother suffer with such devastating loss. I am so proud of her, and what she survived in her life.
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Dementia robbed her years before her final breath. But she was always the beautiful, sparkly, magical woman who went everywhere in her high heels.
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One of the most profound and honouring moments of my life was being her pallbearer. To carry her home to rest. Her coffin- untraditional like her- a woven basket that was her final resting spot.
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Grief has been woven through my whole life, this woman was part of who I am in so many ways. And I’m so thankful for her and miss her every day.

The Baby I Never Held⭐️I felt you,But I never saw you.It was a daylight robbery,Stealing your life in a hurry.“There. Is...
10/15/2025

The Baby I Never Held
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I felt you,
But I never saw you.
It was a daylight robbery,
Stealing your life in a hurry.

“There. Is. No. Heartbeat.”
Words from the doctors seat,
Our future faded away,
As I wept for you to stay.

Knowing you still lived there,
But would be leaving me soon,
Accepting my body’s betrayal,
As I longed for the chance to cradle you.

I wept myself dry,
And I sang prayers to the night,
My body defied me,
And I could see no more light.

Joy never came the next morning,
There was no dancing inside of my mourning,
I walked through the loss as bare as can be,
And felt every part of it, no stoics for me.

There is now one less child,
Sat around my table,
One less pancake to flip,
And one less kid to be playful.

There’s onesies in boxes,
That will never be worn,
And a family future,
That will never be born.

So I see you, dear mothers,
Clasping empty wombs,
There’s no rainbow or tomorrows
To negate all these sorrows.

I see you.
You see me.
Together we grieve.
Let’s surround one another,
And for a brighter tomorrow
We shall believe.

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4907 30 Avenue NW
Edmonton, AB

Telephone

+15879881921

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