Dear Reader…
First, I would like to thank you for reading my book, “Mom’s Search for Meaning.” I realize the topic can be scary. As a culture, we don’t like to think about grief in general and child loss in particular. I know I am every other parent’s worst nightmare. So, when I say I am grateful that you are willing to step into this story, I mean it wholeheartedly.
Recent studies show that 100,000 parents a year lose a child. A shocking number of parents will need compassion and support for the rest of their lives. After Alice died, it became clear that I would require an entirely new level of understanding from my family and friends. It was also clear they wanted to help but had no idea what to do. And at a time when everything was murky, even I was aware I could not articulate my quickly shifting needs from moment to moment. I could barely speak.
Therefore, I wrote. I wrote to make sense of things in my broken brain. I wrote to communicate my inner journey to those who wanted to understand because they wanted to help. Eventually, I received hundreds of notes from people telling me my words helped them. Therefore, I continued writing to them. This book was a mission worth undertaking if I could help even one other person besides myself.
We are a grief-inept society. Reading a story about profound loss demonstrates your willingness to learn about grief and explore your relationship to death, loss, and grief. Brave, indeed. Grief is one of the few experiences we will all share should we live long enough, yet we are often unprepared because grief is not as fun as a rollicking romance. Not to say grief lacks love, on the contrary. As I say in the book, “Grief is love in the absence of the recipient of the love. Grief is the phantom limb of love.” My love for Alice has grown in her absence just as my love for my living daughter has grown with her. And my friendships are deeper and more fulfilling than ever because this trial allowed nothing but absolute vulnerability and honesty between my supporters and me. Out of that, a more profound love burst forth.
Reader, I pray you are not a bereaved parent, but if you are, I send
you my most profound empathy. I hope something in the book will help you
feel validated, supported, hopeful, or understood. If, dear reader, you
are not a bereaved parent but have suffered other traumas, I hope you
find some small nugget to help you feel validated, supported, hopeful,
or understood. And if dear reader, you are neither bereaved nor
traumatized, I applaud you for being willing to witness pain you would
never want to feel.
Website: http://www.melissamariemonroe.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tripleMMeaning
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MelissaMarieMonroeAuthor
Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@triplemmeaning
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissammonroe/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-monroe-b0b1197/
Paralyzed by guilt, grief, and PTSD after her 2-year-old daughter Alice died in her sleep of unknown causes, acupuncturist Melissa Monroe determined not to become a victim in the story of her life. While taking the advice she had given to many grief and trauma patients throughout the years, hoping she could create a meaningful life without closure, she took notes throughout her healing process.
Struggling to advance her timeline beyond that of her daughter’s – and still eager to be the keeper of Alice’s stories – Melissa began to write about Alice’s life and the impact of her death. She became her own lab rat, trying various approaches to healing with the hope that her experience might be helpful to others stuck in a trauma time loop.
As much a study of trauma’s effect on time perception as it is an intimate view into the heart and mind of a bereaved mother, Mom’s Search for Meaning shows us that meaning resides in the search itself…with a spoonful of gallows humor to help the medicine go down.
Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/yrmuumc6
Barnes & Noble: https://tinyurl.com/mryd9z7s
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/123189454
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