November 22, 2020, was the exclamation point on my grief journey. At around 5:31 pm my 17-year-old son left this plain in a fatal car accident. My grief journey began long before losing my son, at just 4 I lost my 2-year-old brother, that is where this truly began. I went on to lose multiple sets of great grandparents, my grandfather, my step-father (who was like a father to me), my grandmother - who I lived next to all of my life and was my favorite person in the world, and a handful of other relatives.After losing Robbie, I started writing and later speaking about my grief journey. This then led to the creation of theGrief22 where I serve as a Grief Guide.This created a way for me to help others on a grief journey. It is also a way for me to continue to share, celebrate, and honor my son. He had a great heart and I learned so much from him, while he was here with us and since he has transitioned. You couldn’t be around him without laughing, a genuine belly-roll laugh. He was funny and he loved tacos, motocross, and his people.I did not choose this journey; I would not ever choose this journey. What I do choose, is to keep moving forward because my son blessed me with the most wonderful gift when he left this earth. A gift of resilience, strength, and courage that has allowed me to share my journey and support others in their healing. Robbie continues to be included in our lives, in all that we do, in theGrief22.One of the pillars of the theGrief22 program is what I refer to as the22Celebration. For us, the22Celebration is bold and loud and includes Robbie daily. That is what serves our family best.I talk a lot about the celebration, and I want to be sure that I express what I mean by that. It is celebrating in your own way. Which can be holding your loved one in your heart, saying their name and continuing to talk about them and share memories, or including them in all that you do. YOU GET TO CHOOSE.I believe a few things…that every person's grief journey is unique.when you are navigating a grief journey you get to choose how you navigate that pathno one gets to set expectations for you on that journeywhen you need support you should have a safe, understanding, unconditional space where you can focus on healingI live grief every day, this is my life, some days I laugh, some days I cry, some days I am angry….I embrace every day as it comes. I give myself permission to ride out the ebbs and flows of my grief. But I also choose to do things that make me happy and one of those things is to help others who are on a journey of their own.

www.thegrief22.onlinehttps://www.facebook.com/groups/thegrief22https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090969517646&mibextid=LQQJ4d

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