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Grief Guiding Compass

Issue 6 Letter from the Editor, Kera Sanchez

If only there were a pill something we could toss back with our morning coffee that made the grief of a future lost more bearable.

For me, that future was watching my mom transform into a grandmother. It was seeing her enjoy the retirement she so deeply deserved after 30 years in education. It was spending more time with my partner in crime.

But that future vanished on June 11, 2022. I was in the NICU with my youngest daughter when I got the call. My vibrant, vivacious, adventurous, and zesty mom had suddenly and unexpectedly died while on vacation in Naples, Italy.

The days, weeks, and months that followed were both a blur and strangely vivid. The pain was psychological and physical. Grief tangled itself around the joy of welcoming my second child, a cruel emotional paradox that felt like an episode of Punk’d. I kept waiting for Ashton Kutcher to jump out and yell, “Gotcha! She’s alive!”

But the moment never came. Reality sank in, and I slipped into a fog I couldn’t shake. My mind looped endlessly: "How did she die? Why did she die? What didn’t I say? What didn’t I do?" It was like trying to live life with a painful, persistent pop-up window interrupting every thought, action, and mood.

At the start, I longed for a quick fix, a kind of griefy Ozempic to dull the ache. But what if there isn’t supposed to be a fix? What if the valleys of grief are part of the map? What if these moments are essential to our growth, to seeing the bigger picture?

If that’s the case, maybe what we need isn’t a cure, but a compass. Something to guide us in the fog. A way to take small, meaningful steps forward as we grow into new, more seasoned versions of ourselves.

In this issue, that’s what I hope to offer you— a compass. A travel-inspired tool fitting, since my mom’s favorite pastime was seeing the world to help you navigate the moments, milestones, and messy in-betweens after a loss.

Personally, I’m working on defining what those directional guideposts are what keeps me moving when the road is unclear. For me, they are community, creativity, connection, and comedic relief. These are the pillars I aim to instill into every issue of Get Griefy because even on the darkest detours, we deserve to find moments of light, laughter, and meaning.

So consider me your griefy tour guide on this detour, not the final destination. No matter what or who you’re grieving, I believe these guideposts will help you find direction, and maybe even some unexpected beauty, on the road ahead.

With you on the journey,

xoxo, Kera Sanchez, Editor-in-Chief of Get Griefy Magazine

This article is from:

Get Griefy Magazine Q2 2025