Passing for Normal

A Dad's Perspective

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.

How to do hard things

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.

History of Mother's Day

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

Adapt

Lessons from Claire: Adapt. I know I am preaching to the choir on this. This episode is not about how to adapt things for your child. It is a reminder to adapt things for yourself and a story about how much I love coffee and believe in the power of community.
I would love to hear from you! Please let me know what you think of the podcast on Instagram @_colleenenglish
You can find me on substack too! https://substack.com/@colleenenglish

Leaving Holland

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.

End of year wrap up

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.

Formal and deep grief

Chloe's back! We talk about the end of the school year and formal for all of you that remember the dress drama that started so many months ago. Chloe talks about trying to have fun and how much more complicated everything is without her sister her. As invisible as the grief for a mother can be, siblings seem to be even more forgotten. So Chloe wanted to share her experience to encourage others out there grieving as teens and remind people of how real grief is. Enjoy!

Revenge decor and holiday grief

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.

Routine and heartbreak

In this episode Jared and Colleen discuss the importance of routine and how they continue to rely on it as a tool in coping with grief. Trigger warning, we talk about how something as simple as making coffee helped Jared on the day that Claire passed. We also discuss the recent news that has devastated the Rett community, of a child passing away due to complications within a clinical trial for gene therapy and how that has lead Colleen to use the platform that Rettland Foundation has to put a memorial fund together for that family. Details can be found at http://rettland.org/heros-memorial-fund/

IKEA and marraige

As promised, in this episode we discuss our 25th wedding anniversary, but not in a typical format. Since Colleen just got a new workspace, we decided to discuss what we have learned over the years from all of our adventures in IKEA. And we have moved a lot. We hope you enjoy this lighter episode with perspectives of the full range of our life from young and newly married to exhausted parents to grievers who probably shouldn't have been assembling furniture. Thank you for listening. Would love to know what you think, send us a message on Instagram @passing_for_normal