RE-RELEASE Trigger warning. This episode has some discussion about suicide. Ansel speaks about his father, Charles, who passed away in 2018 from kidney and heart complications after he stopped taking his medication. Ansel discusses losing his father, navigating his new normal, and his many struggles with his “grief shroud”, a way to describe the emotions that can come over you while dealing with the loss of a loved one. Ansel recognizes that the condolences and well-wishes were well-meaning, but...
Jul 18, 2023•19 min
RE-RELEASE CJ speaks with Pam who lost her father, Hollis, in February. Pam discusses the relationship that she has with Hollis and how they were able to more fully develop their relationship before he died. Even though Hollis wanted a more casual memorial service, Pam and her siblings decided to have a Scottish wake. Grief has surprised Pam as she adjusts to living without her father present. References about a Scottish Wake: CUNY Visit Dunkeld We welcome your comments and feedback about the ep...
Jul 11, 2023•16 min
RE-RELEASE Join the host, CJ, as she discusses her own struggles with grief and loss after losing her mother to a car accident in 2017. Reflecting on “the fog”, the confusion of not knowing where to turn when she expected her mother to be there forever, and forgiveness are tackled in the first episode of the brand new podcast, Sorry To Hear That. We welcome your comments and feedback about the episode. Share your story or comments via email at [email protected]. Instagram (@SorryToHea...
Jun 30, 2023•26 min
RE-RELEASE Marcus lost his mother, Brenda, right before Christmas of his senior year of high school 17 years ago. As he has made big choices and little choices, including college, graduate school (twice), ministry, and now in his second church as a pastor - Brenda has missed a lot. The conversation with Marcus is about grief and loss, but, perhaps more importantly, also about wonder, curiosity, and the big “what if”. What if his mother had been able to see him graduate or become a pastor or prea...
Jun 20, 2023•20 min
RE-RELEASE CJ has lost both her parents. In this episode, she talks about her father, Michael, who passed away in July 2013 as she reflects on Father’s Day. While Michael was not her biological father, he filled a hole in her heart for a very long time and smoothed away at least some of the rough edges. They had a special relationship full of long talks and a lot of time spent together. Unfortunately, after a surprise call, CJ rushed home to be with him, and by the end of the week - he died. Mic...
Jun 13, 2023•26 min
RE-RELEASE Meet Lashelle as she speaks with CJ about her mother, Linda. Linda had “the perfect storm with the worst outcome” after suddenly falling ill and being put on life support for 10 days. Lashelle’s life was forever changed after she received the phone call that sent her across the country to her mother’s bedside. Exploring Lashelle’s journey and uncovering the many layers that come with grief makes her story a relatable one, including using the words, “I don’t know.” We welcome your comm...
Jun 06, 2023•29 min
RE-RELEASE CJ speaks with B. Pagels-Minor (@bpagelsminor on Instagram and Twitter ) about their mother, Suzi Anne Franklin who died in 2012 of complications from Epiglottitis, a swelling of the epiglottis which is a part of the mouth located near the back of the throat. This led to B. feeling as though they have much to accomplish in as little time as possible considering Suzi Anne died at the young age of 48. Dealing with their mother’s death, including the aftermath of a lawsuit with the hospi...
May 23, 2023•28 min
RE-RELEASE CJ speaks with Halle Marenger as she talks about her infant daughter, Lilah. While Halle had a young son at home, she and her husband were over the moon to be expecting a little girl. She would make their little family complete, especially after 3 previous miscarriages. After many challenges and seven weeks of bed rest in the hospital, little Lilah was born on December 9, 2018, in an emergency C-section after she had stopped moving in utero. Barely 48 hours later, little Lilah died, b...
May 16, 2023•46 min
RE-RELEASE ABOUT CJ’S DIARY CJ’s Diary is an episode where she discusses some of her thoughts from an interview or happenings in the world that may change the way we interact with the stories being told on the podcast. CJ’s Diary will evolve over time and is an opportunity to hear her unabashed thoughts. ABOUT THIS EPISODE OF SORRY TO HEAR THAT This week CJ discusses Mother’s Day in CJ’s Diary. It has been almost three years since she lost her mother and preparing for an Instagram takeover with ...
May 09, 2023•26 min
RE-RELEASE Kim, co-host of the podcast Millenial Vibes , joins CJ to talk about her father, Kenneth. Their relationship was and is special - she’s daddy’s little girl through and through. Her father lost his eyesight because of a tumor that began on his retina which caused him to go blind shortly after a risky surgery. The last time he saw Kim physically, she was 10 years old. Through it all, Kim thought of her father as her “Superman” and, unfortunately, the tumor that took his sight ultimately...
May 02, 2023•20 min
RE-RELEASE Luke has known grief for a long time and CJ speaks with him about his parents, Thomas and Cynthia. Thomas passed away from cancer in 2009, and a few short years later, in 2012, Cynthia passed away for fairly unknown reasons. While his father came as a shock to his system, his mother was his true support. Her passing away so suddenly both had and has made him critically change the way he interacts with the world, his own life and life expectancy, and even change the way he celebrates t...
Apr 25, 2023•34 min
RE-RELEASE Chris’ brother, Derrick, was just 53 years old when he suffered a sudden stroke. While scary and unexpected, Derrick seemed to be on the mend in the hospital. Then suddenly, while still in the hospital, Derrick suffered a heart attack. Seven days later, Chris and his mom made the decision to take Derrick off of life support. Chris speaks with CJ about his brother, Derrick, and how he has had to learn how to deal with the aftermath of his brother’s death — figuring out how to come back...
Apr 18, 2023•30 min
This week on Sorry To Hear That, Crystal AC Salas - poet, writer, and teacher - reflects on her Abuelito aka ‘Ito, Serafin, and her Uncle/Tío, Miguel aka Mike. Their passings were similar but different - needing family to advocate for stays in the hospital - but one was in the hospital during COVID and the other was not. Their treatment by health professionals and their ability to show them love by the family also was different. Grief is complicated, disorienting, and confusing. Crystal’s discus...
Mar 17, 2021•37 min
CJ comes back with Season 2 of Sorry To Hear That. In the first episode of the season, CJ explores how to be curious, curiosity in grief, and what grief might be like if we put ourselves in others' shoes to better learn about ourselves on the grief journey. We welcome your comments and feedback about the episode. Share your story or comments via email at [email protected]. Instagram (@SorryToHearPod) Subscribe to new episodes on your favorite podcast listening app: Apple Podcasts , St...
Mar 03, 2021•9 min
As a podcaster, business owner, and wife, CJ Williams reflects on what this season of Sorry To Hear That has brought to enrich her life. The next season of Sorry To Hear That will have more stories and a revamp of the format to better showcase the guests and what the overall goals of the show are. Sorry To Hear That will return in early 2021. Until then, a “Best of” will be released each month - a replay of some of the best episodes. See you in 2021. Learn more about the show at sorrytohearpodca...
Sep 02, 2020•3 min
This week CJ Williams reflects on the first and second seasons of After Life, a show on Netflix that stars Ricky Gervais. He plays a character named Tony that has lost his wife, Lisa, to breast cancer. Each episode begins with Tony watching a video of Lisa where she tells him something important or gives him a reminder. The show may reflect some lived experiences in the community of grievers and those that support them. CJ discusses therapy, feelings of anger that may come out of nowhere, being ...
Jul 23, 2020•25 min
In this bonus episode, CJ gets to speak with Jules from the blog GotGuts08 about what it is like to lose her grandparents, not even 60 days apart, during COVID. Her grandparents, both living in Assisted Living Facilities (ALF) in South Florida had been ill for a while. Jules and her family would spend as much time as they could heading to Miami to be able to spend the time with them that they could. Even prior to COVID, there was a question of “Would this be the last time?” So after COVID placed...
Jul 15, 2020•25 min
Darcy, a huge Harry Potter fan , speaks with CJ about her dad, William, who passed away from complications with prostate cancer. William, now known as WilliMo because of an old email address, passed away and July 2020 marks 10 years. Learning what grief is and what it is not has been a large part of what Darcy has learned in the last decade. Darcy and CJ have been friends for about 9 years and they have an in-depth discussion about how Darcy’s memories of her dad both introduces CJ (and others) ...
Jul 09, 2020•49 min
Cindy has experienced a lot of loss in her life as she discusses with CJ, her mother and father, Larry and Audrey, her husband, Michael, sister, Holly, and dear friend, Ellen. With the number of losses that Cindy discussed with CJ, she showed a rather philosophical point of view where even though they were gone, she could appreciate each of them - her father, mother, sister, husband, and friend - as vehicles of long-lasting memories while still acknowledging that their deaths made an impact. MEN...
Jun 25, 2020•55 min
