You Won't Always Be This Sad

Somewhere
in the midst of this mess — must be a poem

"You won't always be this sad," her mother, who also lost a son, reassures her, while a close friend encourages her to pick up the pen and write it all down. Capturing her own struggles as she emerges from shock in the wake of her son's unexpected death at age thirty-seven, author and storyteller Sheree Fitch writes lyrically and unabashedly, with deep sorrow, unexpected rage, and boundless love. She discovers that she "dwells in a thin place now," that she has crossed a threshold only to find herself in "the quicksand that is grief." The result is a memoir in verse of immense power and pain, a collection of moments, and a journey of resilience.

Divided into three parts, like the memorial labyrinth Fitch walks every day, You Won't Always Be This Sad offers words that will stir the heart, inviting readers on a raw and personal odyssey through excruciating loss, astonishing gratitude, and a return to a different world with new insights, rituals, faith, and hope. Readers, bearing witness to the immeasurable depths of a mother's love, will be forever changed.

A veteran storyteller, educator, speaker and award-winning author, Sheree Fitch is "a woman of faith," who has long followed the practice of centering prayer and labyrinth meditation. She trained as a healing lay minister at the Washington National Cathedral under Rev. Anne Brower where she served for several years before returning home to Atlantic Canada. She currently belongs to "the disorder of the dancing monks" and finds greatest comfort in nature. She lives with her husband Giles and many critters in rural Nova Scotia on the hobby farm Happy Doodle Do. Besides speaking and offering writing workshops, she and her husband run a seasonal bookshop and dreamery.