Ginna Roe lost her wife Candy to colon cancer after a six-year illness. The two had been together for 23 years and raised six children. Eight months later, Ginna's youngest son Jeremy died by suicide. In this episode, Emily sits down with Ginna, a former client who she helped move through years of pain and trauma. Today Ginna is the Founder of Sunflower Print Works KC, a veterans-for-peace advocate, and a public speaker. As she puts it, none of it would have happened without DEATH.
Ginna talks about the early days of her grief, when everything felt "dark and blurry," she dealt with it by drinking whiskey, and anger was the only emotion she knew how to feel. Things began to shift when a TikTok video led her to Emily's holiday grief program. She describes holding Candy as she died, watching the last heartbeat in her neck, and hearing a wail she later realized was her own. She also describes going from "a we for almost 24 years to suddenly just a me." Ginna deleted a dating app within an hour of downloading it because she couldn't answer a single profile question about herself. Then she spent the next year or so dating herself, taking herself to fancy restaurants and sitting in the middle of the damn room.
From there, the conversation turns to rebirth. A diving injury forced Ginna out of her job as a college custodian. Emily's deathbed ceremony showed her a vision of screen printing screens on a wall. The sunflowers she and Candy grew every year became the symbol for her new company. Ginna and Emily also talk about inner child work, EMDR, and making peace with the parts of us that once kept us safe. The episode closes with Ginna's move into activism with Veterans For Peace and her practical advice for anyone who wants to get involved during a collective DEATH of old systems. Her belief is that rugged individualism got us into this mess and collectivism will get us out.
Key Takeaways
● Grief needs community. When Ginna lost Jeremy, she wanted to isolate, drink, and avoid. She chose to reach out to her group instead, and that choice kept her from losing another year of her LIFE.
● Loving your grief isn't crazy. Ginna once thought Emily was "batshit crazy" for saying she loved her grief. Now Ginna loves hers too, because it keeps her connected to Candy and Jeremy.
● Loss can erase the self you built as part of a couple. Dating yourself is one way to find out who you are when you're no longer part of a "we."
● When one door closes, look for the redirect. A diving injury, a hospital bed, and a deathbed visualization led Ginna to the creative work that had been waiting in her all along.
● Your protective parts aren't the enemy. Patterns labeled "maladaptive" kept you safe once, and healing starts when you acknowledge them, care for them, and let them rest.
● You don't have to be political to show up. Existing is a political statement. Find a local group, a community garden, or a coalition of neighbors, and look out for each other.
Connect
● Website: https://iamemilybingham.com/
● Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamemilybingham/
● Book a Wake-Up Call: https://iamemilybingham.com/wake-up-call
● Join The Bucket LIFE https://iamemilybingham.com/bucket-life
● Ginna Roe on Instagram: Ginna Is Enough - https://www.instagram.com/ginna_is_enough/
● Sunflower Print Works KC on Instagram: Sunflower Print Works KC - https://www.instagram.com/sunflowerprintworkskc/
#DeathAndDisco #DeathMedicine #NoOneGetsOutAlive #EmilyBingham #LoveAndGrief #GriefAndLoss #SuicideLossSurvivor #WidowLife #VeteransForPeace #PostTraumaticGrowth #InnerChildHealing #CommunityCare
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