Dearest Friends:
Today I will stand before an audience of thousands and deilver my TEDx talk titled: “When Someone You Love Dies, There Is No Such Thing As Moving On.”
The talk is a message for everyone. Not just widowed people – everyone. It is about love and loss, and the way that we, as a society, mishandle the language and behaviors we use around grief. Every single person who is reading this – will know someone who dies – and every single person reading this – will die themselves one day. My talk is about how we can change the messages that are received about death and grief and loss. If you run a grief support group, if you teach a course about loss, if you have a group of people that would benefit from this sort of talk, please consider holding a TED talk party/gathering from the comfort of your home and computer, where you can watch the talk together, live.
On Friday, I will be telling a bit of my own story, but I am extremely honored to also be sharing the stories of some other incredible people , who have shared love forward, and done their part to help change the world. I am honored to speak the stories of Michele Neff Hernandez, and her Phil, and her Michael. I am thrilled to share the story of Ethan, Jessica, and Erik. I am excited to share the stories of Sarah Treanor, Mike Welker, Shelby, and their forever loves, Meghan and Drew. By sharing stories of real people, near and dear to my heart, I will show you in words and image, how telling the stories of those we love who have died, and keeping them alive and never moving on, expands our world.
To those of you coming to see my talk live and in-person, thank you. This means so much to me. Knowing I have my own cheering section there, rooting for me and for all of us.
To those who would like to see the talk live online, the entire event will be live-streamed, free. The live-stream begins playing at 9:30am, which is when the first speaker begins.
My talk time is set for 1:10pm, so if you wish to see my talk specifically, go to the live-stream a bit before that time. My talk is around 17 minutes in length, and if you are not available Friday at that time to see it, dont worry. All the talks will be uploaded to the TED site and YouTube, at a TBA time, after the event has ended.
I will put the link for the live-stream and ALL other info at the end of this post. SImply go to this link below, and click on the WATCH LIVE button on Friday. That’s it. Easy.
I just want this to be the best it can possibly be, and to feel you all with me as I deliver this message. And look out for me wearing my memorial heart necklace, which holds a tiny piece of Don right inside that heart. In this way, he will truly be “with me” while Im out there talking on that stage. So I know everything will be okay.
Let’s do this. Let’s change the world ….
Go here to watch live, and to see list of speakers, topics, and times:
