Alise Chaffins
Alise Chaffins is the author of Embracing Grief, a book about learning to allow grief to become a part of the tapestry of our lives, rather than trying to cordon it off into something that is safe and manageable. She is a wife, mother, author, musician, eater of soup, and defender of the Oxford comma. You can usually find her behind a keyboard of some kind, teaching piano lessons, writing at her laptop, or texting movie quotes to her friends and family. She lives in West Virginia with her husband, their six children, and Tim the Enchanter, who might be the best dog ever, if only he didn’t fart so much.
Embracing Grief
Each of us will experience grief at some point. For some, it may be a passing moment, but for many, it will permeate all aspects of life. There can be a strong desire to bury our mourning, keeping it hidden from those around us, protecting us and them from the pain it causes.
Drawing from her own experiences with grief, including an affair, a divorce, the loss of a parent, a stillbirth, a child coming out as transgender, and excommunication from a church for supporting her son, Alise will share how finally engaging with her grief allowed her to find more joy and peace in her life, and how by sharing the stories of our grief, we can discover how grief makes us more human and more alive.