“Grief is not the end of things but rather the dark substrate from which great things can emerge.” Nick Cave

Welcome to this space where I express the truth of my loss and grief. My precious, beautiful, life-filled child died in April 2022. I sometimes wonder if my background as a hospice nurse and chaplain was all preparation for our final moments together. After this devastating loss, I entered into the most overwhelming darkness.

In my traumatic grief journey, the most important resources I found were creative expression and other bereaved parents who had also sat in this darkness. The only reason I believed that light could one day return was because they were intimately familiar with the terrain. Mourning through making art has allowed me to hold a wider range of feeling that includes the capacity to experience exquisite joy that exists not in spite of my grief but because of it.

My partner and I have created a performance piece called A Thousand Mothers Collecting the Bones: a Journey of Grief and Praise about our experience with losing our child. It debuts May 9th at La Pena Cultural Center in Berkeley. 

I hope you find solace in knowing I share your grief. May you find relief and meaning-making through my visual art and writing. May my grief and praise journey give you inspiration and companionship on your path. I hope to connect with you at a public performance ritual or for private grief coaching, rituals, art making, and end-of-life support.

With deep love and compassion,

Monique