Coffee, Grief, And Gratitude

Coffee Talk #58: a special reading honoring Harvey Walker. Our dear Monica Welty emceed this evening, remembering/honoring her son Harvey who died 11 years ago. It's a beautiful event with four amazing readers: Ami Patel, Danielle Woermann, Krista Dabakis Price, and Monica Welty. If you missed it or want to relisten, here it is. They all brought the best heart medicine. What a tender evening....

In this tender conversation with Jessica Fein she shares the power of vulnerability and talks about how grief is love, how she’s grown her heart and understands that joy and sorrow live together. She tells her story of her daughter’s illness and death, and how her ambiguous grief was so different from what she names Hallmark card grief—the grief we think of when someone dies. Jessica Fein is the a...

Judith sites a beautiful ritual that includes the questions What happened to you? Why does your heart ache? We love these questions and how they’re wrapped in compassion, how they’re so different from asking What’s wrong? She shares about her writing journey and reminds us to stay with, not give up, on that things that matter to us. Judith Turner-Yamamoto’s debut novel LOVING THE DEAD AND GONE, is...

Dianna shares that she while she was pregnant and knew her daughter, Mary Rose’s, chances of survival were slim, she was planning a funeral while buying a preemie car seat. Life and death were closely woven together. In this episode Dianna brings voice to grieving parents, to ghost babies, and to so much more. DIANNA VAGIANOS ARMENTROUT’s memoir Walking the Labyrinth of My Heart: A Journey of Preg...

Ona shares about her sister Angie who was murdered decades ago and family secrets that kept the murder and Ona’s grief buried. In her soon to be released memoir, Everywhere I Look (Apprentice House Press; April 16, 2024), Ona Gritz unravels the mystery and tragedy of her sister, Andrea Susan Gritz, also known as Angie Boggs, while sharing her own awakening to loss, grief, guilt, and the truth. Ona...

Amy Baskin, Lenka Varekova, Meghan Riordan Jarvis, Melinda Maxwell-Smith, and Miriam Gershow each read a grief piece at our April Coffee Talk. If you missed it or want to relisten, here it is. They all brought the best heart medicine. What a tender evening. Thank you for letting us be in your ears. Coffee, Grief and Gratitude is a created by Anne Gudger and Maria Gibson, a mom/daughter duo who tal...

Tesha reads short pieces from her new co-authored book Beyond Widow , sharing insights into being recently widowed and how she’s learning to be in this new role, this new identity. This episode is full of truth and wisdom and compassion. We hope you love listening. A Tedx speaker and author, Tesha's new book, Beyond Widow , was released in June 2023 and sold 1,000 copies in its first month. Be...

Miriam shares two griefs close to her heart: her dad’s death and the death of a dear friend. She talks about how she experienced grief differently with the two of them, how she decided to show up in big ways, and how grief changed her. Miriam Gershow is the author of Survival Tips: Stories (Propeller Books) and the forthcoming novel, Closer (Regal House, 2025). Her debut novel, The Local News (Spi...

Coffee Talk #57 where five readers read a story included in the anthology Hindsight 2020. True stories from the pandemic. With March being the anniversary of the start of the pandemic, we wanted to have a look back, reflect, on that time that affected us all, that time we didn’t know what was next but we did know it was important to reach out, to connect, to feel less alone even while sheltering,...

On this episode Dede covers a wide range of griefs from her grandparents’ deaths to her parents’ deaths and more. She shares about generational grief and how writing helps her navigate the hard parts of life. She’s journaled since she was in the eighth grade, building her writing muscles at a young age.  Dede Montgomery is a sixth generation Oregonian who explores the jumbled path of forgiveness,...

Kelly shares the impact of her friend’s suicide when they were both under 30. While she grew up in a home where death was talked about, she hadn’t experienced a loss like Micheal’s suicide which shaped how she’s grieved and how she’s shown up for others in their grief. Kelly Wallace is a child sexual abuse survivor at work on a memoir about her experience testifying against her grandfather at age...

Join our writing workshop at here . Or go to writeyourgriefout.thinkific.com for more information. It starts February 1. We would love to get to know you throughout the month. Reach out to us with any questions. On this episode of Coffee, Grief, and Gratitude we’re bringing you a recording of Coffee Talk #54 which was hosted by Annie Gudger. On this Coffee Talk Ann Batchelder, Jonathan Foster, Kar...

As an author, therapist, and huge-hearted human, Meghan has experienced and talked about grief in many layers. Here she shares how she’s shifted towards spirituality. She talks about her experience writing her book. And she gives suggestions for ways to become grief informed, how we can build grief muscles. Meghan Riordan Jarvis, MA, LCSW is an author, podcast host, two-time Tedx Speaker, and psyc...

Melissa reads an excerpt from her memoir, Widowish, where she first starts saying she’s a widow, and then says it over and over, even while ordering French fries at a drive-thru. Saying she was a widow made it real. She makes several excellent suggestions for people who are grieving. Melissa Gould’s memoir, Widowish, is an award winning, Amazon best seller and Editors' Pick for Best Memoir, a...

Jennifer Lang is currently living in Tel Aviv. On this episode she reads from her memoir: Places We Left Behind: a memoir-in-miniature, and shares about her daily/weekly life living in the current war. She’s grieving for the state of the world, the world we’re giving our children. She describes what life is like for her and her family, living with fear, reading the names of fallen soldiers daily....

Maria and Annie talk about the holidays and how they can be hard or at least tricky. Annie reads a chapter from THE FIFTH CHAMBER: A Guide to Christmas Grief. And the two make suggestions for ways to navigate the holidays. Thank you for letting us be in your ears. Coffee, Grief and Gratitude is a created by Anne Gudger and Maria Gibson, a mom/daughter duo who talk about grief. You can find them on...

Ann reads three excerpts from her recently published memoir: Craving Spring: A Mother’s Quest, a Daughter’s Depression, and the Greek Myth that Brough Them Together. She talks about her grief around being the mom of a daughter who has struggled with addiction and the power of shared stories. ANN BATCHELDER is an advocate for women’s wisdom, human compassion, and ending the stigma around depression...

Ella talks about the five gates of grief as described by Francis Weller. These gates opened up a way for her to acknowledge ways Filipino Americans and chronically ill folks carry grief in their bodies. First Gate: Everything we love we will lose. Second Gate: The Places that have not known love. Third Gate: The Sorrows of the World. Fourth Gate: What we expected and did not receive. Fifth Gate: A...

On this episode of Coffee, Grief, and Gratitude we’re bringing you a recording of Coffee Talk #52 which was hosted by Maria Gudger and guest host Kate Carroll de Gutes. On this Coffee Talk Connie Corcoran, Dian Greenwood, Eileen Vorbach Collins, Laura Julier, and Pema Rocker each read a short piece on grief. There’s prose and poetry and one piece of fiction. All of it lovely and vulnerable. All th...

Jonathan shares his thoughts on his grief over his daughter's death. As a former pastor, he experienced a change in his relationship to God after his daughter died.  Here is his bio Jonathan is a husband, dad, writer, and former church planter with some degrees in mimetic theory and open and relational framework. He’s the partner of one and father of three and his recent book indigo: the color...

Gayle talks about renovating homes while grieving, and how renovations can feel like a mirror for grief. She renovated one home when her mother just died by suicide, and another when her dad died. She shares numerous insights on this episode and touches on the crisis in Israel and Palestine. She hopes grief can lead to peace. Gayle Brandeis is the author of nine books, most recently, of the essay...

Laraine Herring is a wealth of grief information, all delivered eloquently and with compassion. This episode truly is a grief primer. She covers so many aspects of grief that aren’t taught and would be so useful to learn. We’ll be listening to this episode over and over. We hope you will too. Laraine is a tenured professor of psychology and the author of seven books. All her books can be found on...

On this episode, Maria and Anne are in conversation, sharing griefs they’ve experienced, what they’ve learned about grief, their hopes for their podcast, and more. Coffee, Grief and Gratitude is a created by Anne Gudger and Maria Gibson, a mom/daughter duo who talk about grief. You can find them on Facebook at Coffee and Grief. Please join their private Facebook page: Coffee and Grief Community. Y...

On this episode of Coffee, Grief, and Gratitude we’re bringing you a recording of Coffee Talk #51 where Harriet Robinson, Jennifer Lang, Joanne Nelson, Miriam Gershow, and Sally McClellan each read a short piece on grief. There’s prose and poetry. All of it lovely and vulnerable. All their stories are different since grief is different for everyone.  Coffee, Grief and Gratitude is a created by Ann...

Kate Carroll de Gutes talks about gender identity, how she was a “girl by default” in a body that doesn’t fit in our culture. She talks family, politics, and more. She gives this advice to trans pre-teens, young adults, and parents of trans: “We will fight for gender and identity. You’re not alone.”  Kate Carroll de Gutes is a genderqueer writer whose work examines sexuality and qualities of gende...