Three Minus One Anthology
The Three Minus One book will be released on April 19, 2014 by SheWrites Press. I am so thankful that one of my essays is included within this hugely meaningful anthology. My essay is called, “The Tiny Voice that Saved Me,” and is about the days following my son’s death. Description of Three Minus One: Three Minus One: Parents’ Stories of Love and Loss is a collection of intimate, soul-baring stories and artwork by parents who have lost a child to stillbirth, miscarriage, or neonatal death, inspired by the film Return to Zero. The loss of a child is unlike any other, and the impact that it has on the mother, the father, their family, and their friends is devastating—a shockwave of pain and guilt that spreads through their entire community. But the majority of...
Read MoreThawing of the Bereaved Soul
There is a magic that comes with the spring thaw. The snow starts to melt and little buds appear on the trees. Maybe you are like me and feel an internal blossoming as well. Spring makes me feel alive. The warmth opens my heart. Zachary died in October 2010. Following his death my city of Edmonton went into its typical cold winter and my soul along with it. I spent that season distracting myself from my grief and disguising my sorrow with the busyness of life. My heart was frozen; cold and barren like the landscape. Another time my internal world mirrored the external was when I was expecting following my loss. In my pregnancy with Eden I ripened to full term along with the colors of spring. Eden was born at the end of June 2012. With Eden’s arrival my heart...
Read MorePraise for Wanted Chosen Planned
Hello lovely readers! I just updated Wanted Chosen Planned with a Praise! page. If you are willing+able and have enjoyed this blog, please get in touch. I welcome feedback either in the comments below this post or by email at info@alexismariechute.com. Thank you in advance! And… with all my heart, thanks for reading!
Read MoreAn Invitation to Share your Story
When Zachary died, I felt terribly alone and like a failure as a mother. Naively I believed that babies didn’t die anymore in technologically advanced places like Canada. No one in my circle of friends and family had talked about their own experience. Sex education didn’t teach me the stats nor did my parents or my doctor warn me when I got pregnant. I was not prepared for what happened to me, though you likely can never be fully prepared. Did others feel this way? Our culture doesn’t cope with death in a healthy manner. The mindset seems to be that once the funeral is over you must pick yourself up and move on. Speaking for myself, my journey of grief didn’t really begin until after the memorial. I needed so much in that first year in particular, needs that I am...
Read MoreCreativity to Ease the Pain
I have been an artist and writer all my life. Somehow I refused to let go of the child-like desire to color, paint, build block towers, write short stories and pen poetry as I grew. Working as an artist and writer have been very fulfilling for me. Then when Zachary died, I stopped. For one whole year, what I call my Year of Distraction, I couldn’t be creative nor did I even try. I lost myself in so many ways. It was when I got back into my work that I realized the amazing potential of creativity to help find a way through my grief – and this creativity is not reserved for just professional artists and writers. It’s for everyone. Creativity itself is mysterious, spiritual and healing. Creativity taps into a different part of our brains and allows us to express...
Read MoreGrieving {Guest Post}
I met Bobbi Junior at a social network marketing class I taught at Harcourt house for artists and writers in the fall of 2013. When I shared Wanted Chosen Planned as an example of my blogging efforts, Bobbi realized that she and I had something in common; early infant loss. I was intrigued to hear Bobbi’s perspective on the death of her child since she has many more years experience on this journey than me. Thank you, Bobbi, for this blog post. I’m sure it will encourage many. Her gravestone reads, “Wendy Lorraine Junior. Budded on earth to bloom in heaven. April 23 – 25, 1985” My husband, Rick, picked the phrase from a page of quotes provided by the funeral home. I had tried to choose, but none felt worthy of our baby girl. She was being buried in a...
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