Why We’re Lovin’ It: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a coming-of-age story that follows the relationship between two friends, Sadie and Sam, who, over the course of 30 years, come together and become successful creative partners in the world of video game design. 

As we follow their deeply intertwined stories, we ride the waves of joy, frustration, miscommunications, love, deep sadness, and perhaps one of the most impactful and primary themes in the book - grief. 

In Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow both Sam and Sadie grieve. Sam grieves the death of his mother, and both Sam and Sadie grieve their beloved friend and creative partner together. 

The beauty of this book is that it perfectly captures the notion that everyone grieves in different ways for both different things and shared tragedies. Except it shows us and doesn’t tell us what grief looks like. It shows Sadie being unable to leave bed. It shows Sam pushing to find normalcy and routine. It shows moments of shared laughter when remembering their person. 

Most importantly, it shows us there is not one way to grieve, even if you’re grieving the same person. 

Ultimately, this novel is beautifully written, it’ll make you laugh, cry, and walk away with a deep sense of belonging and understanding that we’re all beautifully (and at times, painfully) human, and that’s more than okay. 

Why we’re lovin’ it: What we appreciate most about the show “Shrinking” on Apple TV is that it shows grief through the eyes of a teenager and an adult, and how the relationship between father and daughter struggles while they grieve their mother/wife’s death. 

In this series, Jimmy, a father, and a therapist, distracts himself from the pain of having experienced the death of his wife and pushes himself away from his grieving teenage daughter, Alice, who needs support from her father now more than ever. 

This show explores something often not represented or talked about: how family dynamics suffer from dealing with the death of a shared person who died. 

In the show's third episode, “Fifteen Minutes,” Alice’s therapist, played by Harrison Ford (yeah, THE Harrison Ford), suggests that she take 15 minutes to listen to a song and allow herself to grieve. When she tries out the exercise, her dad finds her crying. Later on, in an effort to connect with her, he listens to the same song she does (“I Know the End”/Phoebe Bridgers) while on a bike ride and almost immediately starts sobbing before yelling a huge “Eff you, Phoebe Bridgers!” for making him feel all of the feelings. 

Talking about grief is messy. Still, it feels good to see characters accurately represent how grief can impact your relationships with your caregiver on TV. (Don’t worry, though; the show isn’t all the messy parts of grief; there are lots of laughs and tons of relatable moments from Alice's perspective.)

If you haven’t seen it, give it a watch!

by Sarafina, age 15

I think one of the most beautiful songs ever written by Taylor Swift was her song “Marjorie” about Taylor's grandmother who died in 2003. From this song, you can tell that Marjorie inspired Taylor to pursue a music career.

I feel that anyone could relate to this quote, but especially grievers whose loved one(s) died at a young age:

“I should've asked you questions
I should've asked you how to be
Asked you to write it down for me
Should've kept every grocery store receipt
'Cause every scrap of you would be taken from me”

This quote expounds on two of the grieving emotions: regret and remorse. There's the belief that you should have asked your loved ones more questions and/or gotten to know them better. There are so many things to learn, not only about a person but from a person too and you never know or realize how much time you get with them. 

Yet, even though everybody regrets either something they should have said or an action they should have taken, it is in the past. That is the hard truth but I learned that getting past remorse and into memories can help you feel more content with your situation. Just as Taylor said:

“What died didn't stay dead
You're alive, you're alive in my head.”

Why we're lovin' it: Okay, we just had to share this new video from @ExperienceCamps for grieving children from last summer. A solid laugh (anyone in the grief club will get it, for sure!) about how so many of us see cardinals as a sign of our person who died--and simply must chase after it!