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In this episode, we talk with Julie Lockhart, a retired academic. During the last years of her career, she led a grief support nonprofit called WinterSpring, where she discovered the beauty and depth of personal stories. There she shared her own experience, which helped grieving people feel less alone.

Julie loves an adventure, especially in wild places. She spent most of her career in academics, publishing extensively in peer-reviewed journals.

From that, she has embraced writing personal essays about her adventures, life experiences, and grief, sharing insights from what she has learned. Her essays
have been published in the Journal of Wild Culture, Minerva Rising, bioStories, and Feels Blind Literary. Julie is a Pushcart Nominee for her essay, “Worthy,” and a three-time runner-up in the Women on Writing Essay contests.

In our conversation, she discusses the impact of childhood experiences, the loss of her ex-husband, and a miscarriage, on her writing and work. Julie highlights the importance of telling stories and supporting children and teens in their grief. She also emphasizes the need for adults to understand grief and trauma, navigate family dynamics, and create memorials to remember loved ones.

Julie's website: julietales.com (https://julielockhart80.wixsite.com/julietales)
WinterSpring: https://thelearningwell.org/winterspring-grief-support-and-education/
(Since Julie retired, they merged with a nonprofit healthcare organization called La Clinica and are a major component of that organization’s wellness program.)
The Dougy Center: https://www.dougy.org/ This is the leading children’s grief
organization in the country.
Companioning Model from Alan Wolfelt: https://www.centerforloss.com/

And the poem we shared was from Mary Oliver, titled "Heavy"
That time
I thought I could not
go any closer to grief
without dying
I went closer,
and I did not die.
Surely God
had his hand in this,
as well as friends.
Still, I was bent,
and my laughter,
as the poet said,
was nowhere to be found.
Then said my friend Daniel, (brave even among lions),
“It’s not the weight you carry
but how you carry it –
books, bricks, grief –
it’s all in the way
you embrace it, balance it, carry it
Heavy
by Mary Oliver
when you cannot, and would not,
put it down.”
So I went practicing.
Have you noticed?
Have you heard
the laughter
that comes, now and again,
out of my startled mouth?
How I linger
to admire, admire, admire
the things of this world
that are kind, and maybe
also troubled –
roses in the wind,
the sea geese on the steep waves, a love
to which there is no reply?

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And we would love your feedback and want to hear your stories. You can email us at endoflifeconvo@gmail.com.