Shownotes

As we know in grief, losing a loved one has many challenges. The loss of a parent, a child, a spouse can be some of the most intense losses. Yet losing a sibling has a unique bond. Partly because the bonds of siblinghood share a past and history. While familial relationships vary from person to person, in siblings this is where stories are shared, unique experiences of growing up together, inside jokes only exclusive to brothers and sisters or childhood memories are collected, family secrets or struggles, hardships are shared within each other. Losing a sibling could be compared to losing an appendage. The body is there but it doesn’t feel complete, as if a part has once belonged does not feel full.  The history is there and when it all of a sudden goes away, the loss hits differently.

Our Guest

Award-winning author, Mary Jo Thayer, is no stranger to death and grief. She has attended the funerals of loved ones for as long as she can remember. Her parents taught her the valuable lesson of "showing up" when someone dies. She lost her first sibling in a car accident between her junior and senior years of college. Her father died when she was just 25 and expecting her first child. Since then, she has lost her godmother, her godfather, her mother, three siblings, and two siblings--in-law. Her novel Close to the Soul pays homage to many people in her life by using their names as characters in the story. It is her way of trying to connect to a family from whom she has often felt disconnected since she was a surprise to her parents and many years younger than the rest of her siblings. Her strong Catholic faith gives her a holy resignation to God's will, even in difficult circumstances. 

Connect with Mary Jo

Website: www.maryjothayer.com

Email: maryjothayer@gmail.com

Facebook: facebook.com/maryjothayerauthor

Instagram: instagram.com/maryjothayerauthor

Scripture

• Romans 12:12 

• John 20:29 

Links from the show

• Close to the Soul by Mary Jo Thayer

• Grieving Daughter’s Club by Andrea Bear

• Saint Monica 

• Saint Catherine of Sienna

• Jesus Prayer mentioned by Mary Jo

• Prayer to St. Michael 

• Prayer to the Holy Spirit by St. Augustine

• Divine Mercy Chaplet

Prayer for the souls of : deceased members of the Irish and Thayer families.