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Shelly Calcagno

Shelly Calcagno

blogger / author / speaker

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Learning to let go…

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The year my mom died.

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Book Release – The Longest Goodbye

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Learning to Grieve

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Learning Goodbye

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Dear Me: Lines to the person I want to be

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Looking for lonely.

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My New Book – The Longest Goodbye

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A letter to my son, who didn’t clean out his room before he moved out forever.

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On growing older.

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Meet Shelly

Meet Shelly

Hi! I’m Shelly. I’m an author, blogger and speaker who loves to share about the things that inspire and light up my heart! I invite you to grab a coffee, find a cozy chair and take a few quiet moments to read through my blog. I’m so happy we can connect!

 

The Longest Goodbye

Order my newest book, The Longest Goodbye!

I’d love for you to take a listen to my podcast!

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Recent Posts

  • Learning to let go…
  • The year my mom died.
  • Book Release – The Longest Goodbye
  • Learning to Grieve
  • Learning Goodbye

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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I’ve been struggling ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I’ve been struggling this week, and I really miss my mom tonight. 💗

I took her Bible home with me a couple weeks ago, because I wanted to go through it. It’s filled with pieces of her heart, with years of notes in the margins of the old yellowed pages. Thoughts she had, Sunday sermon points - and who spoke them, underlining and highlighting everywhere. There’s even a couple old church programs, and volunteer schedules. 

I want to read them all, it makes her feel close. 

So tonight I went searching. Flipping through the pages, reading the Word of God that she loved so much, looking for something spoken through Him to her - that would bring comfort. 

A scribble just for me today. 

And then I found this passage, the exact words I needed. I imagined her underlining them years ago, not even thinking that one day I’d read them when she was gone and it would be like her sharing a message with me. I’m sure if she knew, she would have filled that whole book up with love-written margins. 

But I’ll take the old-faded pen lines that she left. 

Mourning into dancing. 
Clothed with gladness. 
Giving thanks and singing praise.

Where I’m at, and the places I’m working to get too. And she wrote dancing in the margin, so maybe that’s her telling me to keep looking for joy. 

I’m trying my Mama. 
I’m trying. 💗

And, today your God-margin scribbles give me all the hope I need.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⭐️So grateful for ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⭐️So grateful for the reader reviews that have been coming in, and all the kind DM's and emails you've sent me. ⭐️

My book was written to bring hope to people walking through difficult seasons, needing to believe that there is always hope to be found. Even joy, if you look hard enough.

I have seen that to be true, and I'll keep on believing it for you too. Gather up those precious moments, collect them all. They belong to you and you'll be so grateful to look back, and call them yours.

You can read other kind words, or leave your own review at Link in Bio💜

Thank you friends💜
xo

#thelongestgoodbye #AlzheimersAwarenessMonth #caregiver @ambassadorintl
Annual pretty snow backyard photo ❄️ Annual pretty snow backyard photo ❄️
Hi from the cutest 3-month old there ever was! 💙 #joy
Broken doors and IG live tomorrow night at 7pm EST Broken doors and IG live tomorrow night at 7pm EST with my friend @coachalily 💗💗
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Grief is complicated. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Grief is complicated. 💗
Love is complicated. 💗
Relationships are complicated.💗

There are no stories that are the same, no experiences alike. No one truly knows what someone else is going through. In loss, and with life in general.

All of it is ok.

It’s okay to wrestle with the complexities. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to feel. It’s okay to mourn. It’s okay to be angry and not understand. It’s okay to be filled with joy in the same moments that you experience pain. 

All of it is ok.

Whatever you need to do to walk the journey, to get yourself to the other side - you have permission to feel what you need to feel. 

All of it is ok. 

I’ve chosen to grasp tightly onto hope. In times of joy, I have hope. In times of mourning, I have hope. In times of doubt, I have hope. In times of loneliness, I have hope. In times of confusion, I have hope. In times of celebration, I have hope.

Hope anchors my soul.

And all of it is ok.

#thelongestgoodbye @ambassadorintl

Shelly Calcagno

© COPYRIGHT Shelly Calcagno 2022. Web design by Wellington & Grey.

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