DRIED CHERRY JUICE SERIES

🍒 Chapter 6: (Somewhat) Rising From the Ashes We’re moving forward after the fire — into the years of rebuilding and growing up. After the fire, life doesn’t return to normal — it reorganizes itself. This chapter follows Cece through a long season of rebuilding: grandparents’ sleepovers, a temporary trailer, a new Chihuahua named Mazi, and eventually a new home, new neighborhood, and new routines...

🍒 Chapter 5: Cinco de Pyro We’re still in childhood — but this is the moment everything changes. This chapter marks the first true turning point in Dried Cherry Juice. What begins as an ordinary afternoon with Nana slowly reveals itself as something devastating — a house engulfed in flames, the loss of a beloved companion, and the shattering of childhood safety in real time. Told through vivid se...

🍒 Chapter 4: School for (Not) Cool Days This chapter flips through Cece’s early school years like a scrapbook with teeth — a rapid-fire rundown of pre-k through sixth grade, told with humor, side quests, and an unapologetically scattered rhythm. Along the way: picture day rebellion (feat. the infamous pink dinosaur tee shirt), childhood competitiveness, early crushes, spelling bee glory, tomboy f...

🍒 Chapter 3: From Humble (and Heated) Beginnings We’re staying in childhood — but widening the lens to the world I grew up inside. This chapter settles fully into childhood — not as nostalgia, but as lived texture. Cece moves through memories of play, family, and personality with her signature wandering cadence: fireflies, Hot Wheels, a one-of-a-kind dollhouse, Power Rangers battles, Walmart park...

🍒 Chapter 2: MCMLXXXVII — A Spark From Within We’re rewinding — back to the very beginning. This chapter rewinds to the beginning — not the trauma, but the texture of childhood before the fire. Through humor, memory, and playful digressions, Cece pieces together what she can remember (and what others remember for her) about her earliest days. From pregnancy cravings and “late arrival” jokes to fa...

🍒 Chapter 1: Initial Sparks We’re starting quietly — with what we think we know about other people, before the story turns personal. This first chapter begins not with drama, but with observation — the quiet noticing of everyday people we think we understand but rarely do. Through familiar scenes of grocery stores, workplaces, and church pews, Cece reflects on how suffering often hides in plain s...

🩸Before the First Drop: An Introduction (of Sorts) Before the First Drop serves as an introduction to Dried Cherry Juice — a podcast-to-book series blending raw storytelling, dark humor, and reflective journaling. This episode offers context, intention, and a gentle orientation for listeners before the story begins. Cece explains how the story will be told — scattered, nonlinear, and deeply perso...