Hello, I am Reverend Andi Blanton. I have been an ordained minister since 2010 and a staff pastor since 2001. I am not a grief expert. I do not have a degree in the grief process but I have been through and am still going through grief and loss. In 2018, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and subsequently went through chemotherapy, surgery, then radiation. I experienced losses of “how things used to be,” as well as loss of the way my body looked and worked before treatments. I couldn’t image there would be a time when cancer would not be the first thing on my mind. But I eventually got to that place.
On November 2, 2021, my husband and partner in ministry, Mike, was killed in a senseless accident while he was delivering his mail route. He was struck by a vehicle while walking on the sidewalk and killed instantly. 10 weeks later, my daughter, son and I are still going through the grief process over losing him.
What I have learned thus far is that everyone grieves differently. My grief is not the same as your grief and yours is not the same as mine. You don’t have to experience a death of a person to experience grief. The loss of your health, the loss of a job, the loss of a pet, a break-up, the loss of “normal” life while living through a pandemic can all cause grief. Writing helps me process my feelings and I hope to share some of my experiences here. I am here to share some of the lessons I’ve learned, some of the things that have helped me, and to be a safe place to discuss our shared grief experiences.