Adult Fairy Tales Healing Through Storytelling: Grown-up Storytelling Themes

When my mother passed tragically, I found myself wandering through a fog of grief and exhaustion. Her ending was literary in both the way she left and what she left behind. Undone. Between us. A childhood trauma so dark and sad that it was never talked about. Never resolved. Over 50 years. Not once.

There are plenty of examples in literary history of this kind of silence. A terrible event occurs and the main characters never resolve it. Out of fear, or shame, or pride. Wallace Stegner’s Remembering Laughter was given to me at that time, and reading it felt like holding up a mirror. Its characters’ unspoken regrets echoed my own unhealed wounds. The similarities between their silence and mine were palpable, as evidenced by my heartbeat as I read, accompanied by the sore thumb in my throat. The elephant on my chest.

The frayed string that held us together—my mother and me—was gone.

The path to Santa Land

Books as Refuge: Grown-up Storytelling Themes

Books have been my refuge my entire life. So it was natural that I would try to express my grief in a fictional story about a character remarkably like myself. Writing then became my refuge from the storm inside me.

I asked myself terrible questions: What now? What will I become? I realized I was not only grieving the loss of someone I loved dearly—I was also grieving the loss of innocence, again. An old wound, never cared for, grows scar tissue that rips open deeper when examined.

I wrote two books and set them aside. They weren’t good enough. I cried. I journaled. I sought care from my doctor, from Tim, from God.

And then, in the midst of sorrow, came a visitation. My brother-in-law, 2,000 miles away, whispered a secret in my ear at the very moment he died. An hour later, the phone rang with news of his passing. For three days, Tim and I tried to make sense of it. To distract myself, I began sketching out a math equation. I felt I owed Blake something for visiting me in such a literary way. That exploration led me down a rabbit hole of discovery—secrets that ultimately became woven into the allegory of Santa Land. Filled with Grown-up Storytelling Themes.

The Cricket Appears

Out of the silence of grief came a sound—a cricket’s call. At first imagined, later everywhere. Even now, in the stillness, I hear them.

I tuned my sleep machine to “summer nights,” and it filled the room with the sound of crickets. Soon, the sound became my companion. I imagined a single cricket as my friend, my muse. The cricket guided me on my journey through sorrow, wonder, and memory, ultimately revealing a hidden realm called Santa Land—a place where love, imagination, and the soul’s true purpose intertwine.

The Power of Adult Fairy Tales

This is the magic of grown-up storytelling. Fairy tales are not just for children. They invite us to explore grief, wonder, and memory through allegory—a language of symbols that can carry truths too heavy to name outright.

As a toddler, my mother read the classics to me. I was enthralled by Peter Pan’s refusal to grow up, the raw power of nature in White Fang, the desperate search for identity in The Red Badge of Courage, and the ache of displacement in The Grapes of Wrath. These stories didn’t coddle me—they showed me that identity, loss, hope, and love are universal themes.

As an adult, I see that these themes are not just abstract ideas but living, breathing elements that shape our understanding of the world. Grief is not just sadness—it is a path to healing. Wonder invites us to see the extraordinary in the ordinary. Memory connects us to our past and guides us toward the future. And love—love is felt most preciously when reviewed in reverse, when we look back and see its thread woven through all.

The Path to Santa Land

Embracing the magic of Santa Land means realizing that the soul’s true purpose is not a destination but a process; a continuous unfolding of love and understanding. The wise cricket taught me to navigate this realm with courage and openness, reminding me that even in a world aching for hope, we can find light by telling and living our stories.

If you are seeking solace, connection, and self-reflection, I invite you to explore the world of adult fairy tales. Let them guide you on your own journey through grief, wonder, and memory. Discover the magic that awaits when we dare to love forward.

And if your heart is ready, step into Santa Land itself. Through the novel and the podcast, this grown-up fairy tale offers a path not of escape, but of return—to wonder, to love, and to yourself.

Chirp.

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