I found writer Casey Mulligan Walsh in the June 2022 issue of Split Lip, where she lives up to their mission:
We’re a literary journal that’s totally bonkers-in-love with voice-driven writing, pop culture, and the kind of honesty that gets you right in the kidneys.
Read the stunning work here:
When you’re done with that, check out her wisdom-filled piece called This is What No One Tells You About Losing a Child:
If you think you can’t handle it, you can. The work has lines like these:
I was no stranger to grief. Having lost both parents by the time I was 12 and my only sibling when I was 20, I had determined to do everything in my power to recreate the family I’d lost. Yet I’d also come to believe, as Carl Jung said, that “I am not what happened to me, I am who I choose to become.”
I clung to this conviction even after Eric died, determined to never forget my beautiful son while also embracing what lay ahead for me.
As it turns out, grief and joy can — and do —coexist. Today, more than two decades later, I have a life I could only have dreamed of back then. Married now to a wonderful man, together we have five kids and 10 grandkids. We laugh — a lot — and are grateful every day that we’ve ended up here together.
Reading through Casey’s work and exploring her website is an exercise in joy. I love both the layout and the resources found here: