We laughed. We cried. And we got honest about the parts of life that aren’t easy to talk about.

In this episode of Unpacking with Michelle, I sit down with Teri L. Busse—author, songwriter, speaker, advocate, and host of 13 Days of Silence: Living in the After.

Teri shares about losing her husband and the murder of her son, Rylee, and how those losses shaped her life and her commitment to helping other grieving families. Her work carries a deeply personal purpose: making sure people are remembered for their lives, their love, and who they were—not only how they died.

We also talk openly about addiction and recovery—her experience with alcohol, mine with drugs—and the painful truth about how addiction affected us as mothers. Two women owning our pasts, sharing what we’ve learned, and doing life the best we can.

We connect over writing books and songs, finding ways to express what we carry, and making room for laughter alongside grief. There were tears, there were laughs, and there was room for all of it.

If you’re grieving, rebuilding, or learning how to live with an absence that changes everything, we hope this conversation helps you feel a little less alone. 🩷

Content note: This episode includes candid discussion of the loss of a spouse, the murder of a child, addiction, and parenting during active addiction. Adult language.

Real. Raw. Unfiltered.
This is Unpacking with Michelle.