Sherry Van Pelt
My name is Sherry Van Pelt. I am a wife to my husband Max of 43 years, a mother of three and a grandmother of three. I am also an author and speaker. When I was 13, I lost my very best friend in an accident. The night before, we had gone roller skating and were laughing so hard we could hardly stand up because we were having so much fun. The next morning she was dead. I went to her funeral and I couldn’t believe she was lying in a casket! There weren’t support groups like there are these days. So I put my all my feelings and thoughts on paper. It was how I coped with her loss. Years later, when I lost my grandchild, I once again used the tool of writing. I didn’t know how to deal with the pain of losing him, so I put my thoughts on paper. I wrote it in the form of a letter as if I were talking to him. Thus the book “Dear Conner, a Grandmother’s Pain” came about. All my private thoughts are in this letter and because I did allow this letter to be published, I have helped many others. In turn, the thank you notes, letters, and phone calls I have received as a result of this book have been a blessing and a healing process for me too. So I feel when we reach out to help others, the blessing will come back and help us double.
Articles:
Grandmother Writes to Deceased Grandson on His Birthday
Conner, today is your 1st birthday. It has been 12 months since your death and it hurts just as much today as it did then. Time has a way of helping you control your tears while around others but when alone, it is very easy to shed them. I miss you so much. I am only your grandmother; I can’t begin to imagine the pain that your mommy and daddy are going through. I came to work today but I shouldn’t have. I have been in the bathroom many times crying. The pain is so intense. Special days and holidays […]
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Death of Grandchild is a Double Loss
April 11 was my second-born grandson, Conner’s, birthday. He would have been 16 this year. Oh, the fun age. The 16th birthday, to me, is when you no longer feel like you are a child but not quite an adult. You aren’t quite sure where to go with those feelings you have inside you. Also, the child seems to change physically. But I will never get to see those changes in my grandson. As a matter of fact, I never got to share any birthdays with him as he was stillborn. To this day, we do not know what happened […]
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Grandmother Shares Story of Double Loss
January 25th will be my third grandchild’s birthday. There won’t be any cake or ice cream or a party. She isn’t here with us. Instead we will put balloons on her gravesite. She would have been 14. Her name was Jacy Kay. She had my middle name. We would have had another teenager in the family. When I hear of people complaining of their teenager, I keep thinking of how I would have loved to have had the opportunity of getting to know her as one. But she was taken from us before she even had the chance to live. It was […]
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