Passing for Normal

Jared and Colleen discuss their upcoming move and the mental load that brings as well as the concept of integrating grief and moving with it, as a part of the story, not the center. 

In this episode Jared is back! We discussed the contentious relationship we have with Mother's Day and Bereaved Mother's Day, a bit of the history around the days, and if we could change things, what we would want to see. If you have any thoughts we would love to hear from you! Send a message on Instagram @_colleenenglish 

Chloe is back and we talk about senioritis as she counts down to high school graduation and Colleen counts down to the move. We discuss SMOs, significant moments of overwhelm and how each copes with them differently. 

We are back! In honor of siblings day, Chloe joined me to talk about what it's like being the typical, surviving sibling. She shares her hot takes on the concept of the glass child, growing with grief and what we managed to do right as parents. 

In this episode we discuss the life altering, disorienting process of recovering, falling into normal, and pursuing magic again.

After a hiatus, Jared is back! We talk briefly about where he's been and why he's returning to the podcast now. In honor of it being Father's Day down in Australia, we focused our conversation around a dad's perspective on being a parent/caregiver. Jared shares how he told strangers in Hobbiton about our chaotic life and why he thinks reading fantasy with the girls was one of his best dad moves.

After my unexpected hiatus I am back and discussing the funk I've been in and reflecting on one of the lessons I learned from Claire, to do hard things, you need support.

It is no secret that I don't love Mother's Day and the consumer based forced nature of the holiday. Plot twist, I was very excited to learn about the roots of the holiday and how inclusive it inherently is of the bereaved. I would love to hear your thoughts, do we need a bereaved Mother's Day too? Message me on Instagram @_colleenenglish

Hello! After our extended holiday it is good to be back. This week marks four years since Claire passed unexpectedly. In 2023 I wrote a piece called "Leaving Holland" a response to the poem "Welcome to Holland" by Emily Perl Kingsley that attempts to describe a bit what this process has felt like. In this episode I give a quick update and read this piece that still resonates deeply within me. Thank you for listening.

Wishing you all peace and joy in the last few days of the year. We are exhausted and are off for a bit to recharge. This passing for normal stuff is hard, sending love to you all.

In this weeks episode we discuss a encounters with the neighbors that could have been normal but were anything but that and why Colleen is not aggressively decorating the front yard for Christmas. We also discuss just how hard the holidays are and how our current best strategy is to try and escape.

In this episode we discuss the October surprise that nobody was expecting, Colleen's sudden urge to celebrate Halloween, which is odd to observe from the Southern Hemisphere. We talk about how hard it is to get to a place of celebration in light of grief and how different it is to suddenly have the capacity.

In this episode we discuss how awkward October is, between Rett Syndrome awareness in our new world where nobody knows about it, the anniversary of the diagnosis and Claire's birthday. Jared and Colleen share their separate strategies for dealing with the birthday and when to tell new people about Claire.

October is Rett Syndrome awareness month so we dedicated this episode to things to be aware of, in regards to Rett syndrome, particularly what you CAN do to make it better.

First and foremost, we talk about the 9th World Rett Syndrome Congress. Very exciting! Sept. 14 is R U OK day in Australia, an effort lead by a suicide prevention group. We talk about why this is so important and how having a child with special needs doesn't exempt you from all the normal stuff in life.