On this episode of Grief and Gratitude we’re grateful to be in conversation with Carol Smith, author of CROSSING THE RIVER: SEVEN STORIES THAT SAVED MY LIFE: A powerful exploration of grief and resilience following the death of the author's son that combines memoir, reportage, and lessons in how to heal.
Carol reads the prologue of her book about her grief for her seven-year-old son, Christopher. She tells us, “I had no language for stories. . . . The void of his loss was as indescribable as the darkness between stars.”
She talks about her early grief, a feeling of paralysis. “I was afraid to move on. Afraid not to move on. The notion of letting go was the same as forgetting. That was intolerable.” And then she says, “Trying not to remember in order to not feel pain, was causing me to forget. And that was even worse. That was like losing him all over again.”
As she navigated her grief, she came to see it as a “powerful energy. It is transformative. And it will take you to a new place that will be a different place. Not better or worse—different.”
If she could talk with her younger self? She tell her, “Be patient. Have faith you’ll get through this. Have compassion for other people who are likely suffering in ways you can’t see.”
She also tells us how important it is to not be afraid to talk about the person who’s gone. People like hearing their person’s name spoken.
Carol Smith is a Seattle writer and reinvented print journalist currently working as an editor for NPR-affiliate KUOW Public Radio. She fell in love with the intimacy of radio as a narrative medium after the closure of her long-time newspaper the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. She has been a PEN Literary Finalist for her journalism, been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize seven times and twice for the Pushcart. Her essays and other writings have appeared in more than a dozen literary journals. Her memoir, CROSSING THE RIVER: SEVEN STORIES THAT SAVED MY LIFE is available wherever books are sold.
You can connect with Carol at https://linktr.ee/carolsmithauthor
Anne’s memoir, THE FIFTH CHAMBER, a memoir of loss and love, is available for pre-order at your local bookstore and on Amazon https://bit.ly/3nZIvEy and Barnes & Noble https://bit.ly/3Mt7Xg1
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