Episode Details

The casseroles arrive. The flowers fill the house. For a few weeks, people show up.

And then they don't.

For most grieving people, the silence that follows the funeral is one of the loneliest parts of loss — and one of the least talked about. In this episode, Brian sits down with Kelly Edmondson, a trauma nurse, grief counselor, and Shining Light mother who lost her son Darius on January 3rd, 2023. Kelly spent years delivering devastating news to families in the ER. She thought she understood grief. Then it happened to her.

What she discovered — in the gap between clinical knowledge and lived experience — became the foundation for Timely Presence, a year-long grief support service that sends meaningful, curated gifts on the days that hit the hardest: the first birthday, the first Mother's Day, the first wedding anniversary without your person.

This conversation is for anyone who has ever wanted to show up for someone grieving but didn't know how — and for anyone who has felt the world move on while they were still standing in the wreckage.

In this episode:

• How Kelly's son Darius lived — and what his life continues to mean
• What a career in trauma nursing teaches you about grief that lived experience still catches you off guard
• How to deliver heartbreaking news with compassion and clarity
• Why people go silent around grievers — and why silence does more damage than an imperfect word
• What not to say (and what actually helps)
• How Timely Presence fills the gap in grief support after the funeral
• The first gift Kelly ever sent — and the prisms it left dancing on a wall

About Kelly Edmondson

Kelly Edmondson is a nurse, grief counselor, and the founder of Timely Presence — a year-long grief gift service designed to show up for the bereaved on the dates that matter most throughout the first year of loss. Drawing from her background in trauma care and her own journey through child loss, Kelly created a service that didn't exist before: one that remembers, so the people around you don't have to carry it alone.

🌐 Website: thetimely presence.com 💼 LinkedIn: Kelly Edmondson 📸 Instagram: @the.kelly.edmondson

You've been listening. You're doing the work. But there's still this feeling that you're circling the same place.

Maybe you've thought about working with me one-on-one. Maybe something's held you back. 

I get that. And I want you to know there's still a place for you.

All of it, pay what you want. You decide what it's worth. Nobody gets turned away because of money.

https://grief2g

The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15.

Visit IANDS.org to register

The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15. 

Visit IANDS.org to register

Want to go deeper? My Substack is where I share solo essays on grief, consciousness, and continuing bonds — thoughts that don't always make it into the podcast. It's also home to a community of listeners who get it, because they're living it too. Free to subscribe. Find it at