Torn Inside Out : Releasing Grief 40 Years Later

Summer 1955 is winding down and twins Jeanie and Georgie are looking forward to returning to school. They’ve worked hard all summer to earn money to buy needed school items and are eagerly preparing for their freshman year in high school. The circus comes to their small town of Berlin and Jo, with her twin siblings, are excited to sit on the curb to watch the elephants with their trainers. Shortly, Jeanie and Jo both fall ill with headaches and fever. Jo recovers but Jeanie is taken to the hospital. Within days, the Wentland family is torn inside out as the twins succumb to polio and die within a week of each other, and Jo’s older brother Jack is rushed to the hospital with the same dreaded polio diagnosis. Will he survive? Jo’s two best friends and beloved siblings are gone, never to return, and, alone in her grief, she is scolded by her mother that if she cries, she’s selfish. Blinking back tears for over 40 years, Jo’s grief is finally unleashed as she recounts her tragic childhood loss and the effects it had on her and her family.