Gatherings | Sheila Collins

It’s Not Over Till It’s Over

by Sheila Collins | Jun 29, 2023 | Art & Life, Celebrations, Community, Dances, Family, Gatherings, Health and Wellness, Improvisation, Personal Stories, Play, Story-telling

Last week was the first in person Leaders’ Gathering for the InterPlay organization I have been a member of for over 30 years. Nearly 50 people from across the country, and a few from across the world, (Africa and Australia) met in a conference center in Greensboro...

Why Pride Parades are Good for Our Communities’ Mental Health

by Sheila Collins | May 31, 2023 | Art & Life, Celebrations, Community, Environment, Family, Gatherings, Grieving, Health and Wellness, History, Our Children, Personal Stories

On a return flight to Pittsburgh earlier this week I listened again to the audio version of my now 10-year-old memoir, Warrior Mother, Fierce Love, Unbearable Loss, and Rituals that Heal. This refreshed my memory of what a struggle my youngest son Ken had with...

What’s Ecstasy have to do with Grief?

by Sheila Collins | May 25, 2023 | Art & Life, Celebrations, Christianity, Community, Family, Gatherings, History, Our Children, Personal Stories, Women, Girls & the Feminine

In this spring season of graduations my husband and I are just back from what we called our “memory lane” motor tour–12 hours driving time each way to Springfield MO. for our granddaughter Vitoria’s graduation with a PhD in Physical Therapy. Turns out there...

The Beach’s Life Lessons on the Art of Grieving

by Sheila Collins | May 4, 2023 | Celebrations, Environment, Gatherings, Health and Wellness, Our Children, Past Events, Personal Stories, Play

My friend Rose lived in landlocked Nebraska, but every six months or so, when the responsibilities of work and family would get to her, she’d head for the beach near Corpus Christi. When I was no longer a neighbor and had moved to Fort Worth Texas, she’s drive...

Are we willing to mourn?

by Sheila Collins | Apr 27, 2023 | Community, Dances, Duality, Family, Gatherings, Grieving, History, School Shootings, social justice, Songs, The Art of Grieving

Seven-year-old Daniel Barden’s father Mark came on ahead of the video I was trying to pull up this morning. I’ve seen him often though these past 11 years since his son was one of the 20 children killed when a 20-year-old with an assault-style weapon began shooting at...

The Remembering Rooms

by Sheila Collins | Mar 23, 2023 | Art & Life, Book Excerpts, Celebrations, Duality, Environment, Family, Gatherings, History, Our Children, Past Events, Personal Stories, Stillpoint, Story-telling, Women, Girls & the Feminine

It was a Saturday, the first in a long time, when I wasn’t out of town, or too tightly scheduled to consider a variation in the day’s routine. I put the regional newspaper in the front seat of my car when I left for my exercise class, thinking that, after class I’d...