Don't Give Me Any Grief: One mother's journey in the loss of a child

In Don’t Give Me Any Grief, Cathy Pendola reflects on the thoughts and feelings that filled her days following the sudden death of her nineteen-year-old son Dominic. Surreal experiences such as picking out his funeral clothes and the heartache of cleaning his room for the first time are explored fearlessly and poetically in the hopes that her journey through loss will provide a path for other parents who know the same pain. Countering grief-speak words including “closure” and “new normal,” and frankly declaring there will never be an answer to the question "why," Pendola’s stories and poems make room for grief—hers and yours—and by doing so, invite the possibility of hope and healing.