Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grief Dialogue

Grief and Religion with Dr. Rios

Grief doesn’t just break your heart—it can rewire your theology, your body, and your whole relationship with God.In “Grief and Religion,” Dionne C. Monsanto and Yvette Love Dávila are joined by Rev. Dr. Elizabeth “Liz” Rios—Afro-Boricua pastor, scholar, justice leader, and founder of Passion2Plant—for a candid conversation about what faith looks like when the miracle you prayed for doesn’t come. Because Dr. Rios has also lost a child, the table expands into Three Mothers, One Aché—three women speaking from lived experience, not performance.Together, they explore the silence that follows loss, the pressure to perform “faithful” grief, and the ways inherited theology can fail us when it’s built to explain pain instead of accompany it. Dr. Rios offers permission—clear and uncompromising—to grieve honestly, question openly, and trust that faith can hold lament, anger, rest, and becoming.This episode also honors the practical, embodied ways love shows up, and the spiritual practices that sustain us inside and outside the church—without rushing healing or demanding closure.Aché.Send us a textTwo Mothers, One Aché: A Grief Dialogue is produced and distributed by Merrick Studios and hosted by Yvette Dávila and Dionne C. Monsanto. Each episode offers a brave and intimate space where grief is spoken aloud, healing is shared, and love refuses to fade—listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever your journey takes you. Join the conversation on Instagram @2mothers1achepod and learn more at wearemerrickstudios.com/two-mothers-one-ache-pod. Original music by Dasan T. Broadnax, known artistically as O.D. Mongrel. Discover more of his work on all streaming platforms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Community & Isolation

This episode is an invitation back to the kitchen table, where grief and love tell the truth together.Yvette and Dionne explore how community can feel like refuge and overwhelm at the same time, how grief can make you crave connection while needing to disappear, and how protection can look like sunglasses, silence, or staying upstairs. We talk about who shows up when everything falls apart, who surprises you, and who pulls away—not always out of harm, but out of fear, confusion, or their own unprocessed grief.Together, we reflect on transactional relationships, chosen family, and the quiet wisdom of practical care: bringing food without asking, getting bodies moving, making decisions for someone whose heart is already carrying too much. We also offer a forward-looking practice—creating a small circle of trusted people who know your signs, hear the unspoken, and have permission to step in when words fail.And we close honoring beloved names Sophia Annalise and Princess Grace – breathing life into memory, love, and community that endures beyond isolation.Aché.Send us a textTwo Mothers, One Aché: A Grief Dialogue is produced and distributed by Merrick Studios and hosted by Yvette Dávila and Dionne C. Monsanto. Each episode offers a brave and intimate space where grief is spoken aloud, healing is shared, and love refuses to fade—listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever your journey takes you. Join the conversation on Instagram @2mothers1achepod and learn more at wearemerrickstudios.com/two-mothers-one-ache-pod. Original music by Dasan T. Broadnax, known artistically as O.D. Mongrel. Discover more of his work on all streaming platforms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Grief and Addiction (Part 2)

In Part 2 of Grief and Addiction, the conversation deepens—and so does the truth.Yvette shares the moment her grief was fundamentally reshaped: learning that addiction played a direct role in her son Dasan’s death. With compassion and courage, she reflects on the question that changed everything—What would life have looked like if addiction had continued?—and how that reckoning opened a path toward forgiveness, faith, and self-compassion.Joined again by licensed professional counselor and addiction specialist Jill Mackey, Dionne and Yvette explore the emotional complexity of addiction-related loss: guilt and relief existing side by side, survivor’s guilt, generational trauma, and the quiet exhaustion of waiting for “that call.” They unpack why grief can increase vulnerability to addiction, how numbing behaviors show up in everyday life, and what it means to truly let go of the “why.”This episode is about learning to hold love and loss in the same body.About releasing blame without erasing truth.About forgiving yourself so you don’t lose what you still have to what you’ve already lost.As always, this is a space for honesty, breath, and remembrance. Take your time with this one. You may want to listen more than once.Aché.Send us a textTwo Mothers, One Aché: A Grief Dialogue is produced and distributed by Merrick Studios and hosted by Yvette Dávila and Dionne C. Monsanto. Each episode offers a brave and intimate space where grief is spoken aloud, healing is shared, and love refuses to fade—listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever your journey takes you. Join the conversation on Instagram @2mothers1achepod and learn more at wearemerrickstudios.com/two-mothers-one-ache-pod. Original music by Dasan T. Broadnax, known artistically as O.D. Mongrel. Discover more of his work on all streaming platforms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Grief and Addiction (Part 1)

In Part 1 of 2 about Grief and Addiction, we open a tender, necessary conversation about the kind of grief that begins long before a goodbye.Dionne and Yvette name the quiet losses that live inside addiction—the loss of safety, trust, time, potential, and the versions of people we hoped might still emerge. Joined by licensed professional counselor and addiction specialist Jill Mackey, the three explore how grief and addiction are deeply intertwined, not just for the person using substances, but for the families who love them.This episode holds space for anticipatory grief, disenfranchised grief, codependency, shame, and the emotional toll of “mourning the living.” Together, they slow the pace, breathe on purpose, and invite compassion into a conversation often shaped by silence and stigma.Part 1 is about naming what hurts—honestly, gently, and without judgment—so that healing has somewhere to land. Part 2 will drop on Thursday, December 18th.As always, take what you need. Pause if you need to. Breathe with us.Aché.Send us a textTwo Mothers, One Aché: A Grief Dialogue is produced and distributed by Merrick Studios and hosted by Yvette Dávila and Dionne C. Monsanto. Each episode offers a brave and intimate space where grief is spoken aloud, healing is shared, and love refuses to fade—listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever your journey takes you. Join the conversation on Instagram @2mothers1achepod and learn more at wearemerrickstudios.com/two-mothers-one-ache-pod. Original music by Dasan T. Broadnax, known artistically as O.D. Mongrel. Discover more of his work on all streaming platforms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Love, Faith & Spirituality in Grief

In this episode, Yvette and Dionne dive into how love, faith, and spirituality shape our grief—and how they can help us find steadiness when life shakes us to the core.They explore the role of breathwork in calming the nervous system, the rituals that ground us, and the ways signs, dreams, scripture, and nature can offer comfort. Yvette shares the spiritual messages that carried her after losing her son, while Dionne reflects on faith, anger, and the meaning she’s found after her daughter Siwe’s passing.Together they unpack how grief can shift our belief systems, why respect across different faith traditions matters, and how small acts—lighting a candle, tending a plant, speaking a loved one’s name—can open the door to healing.The episode closes with an Aché moment, honoring loved ones who have transitioned and inviting listeners to do the same.A tender, honest conversation for anyone searching for connection, grounding, or guidance in the midst of loss. Aché.Send us a textTwo Mothers, One Aché: A Grief Dialogue is produced and distributed by Merrick Studios and hosted by Yvette Dávila and Dionne C. Monsanto. Each episode offers a brave and intimate space where grief is spoken aloud, healing is shared, and love refuses to fade—listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever your journey takes you. Join the conversation on Instagram @2mothers1achepod and learn more at wearemerrickstudios.com/two-mothers-one-ache-pod. Original music by Dasan T. Broadnax, known artistically as O.D. Mongrel. Discover more of his work on all streaming platforms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Changing the Grief Narrative with Bun B

Hip-hop legend Bun B joins Two Mothers, One Aché for a raw and deeply human conversation about brotherhood, loss, and healing. He opens up about the morning he learned of Pimp C’s passing, the identity-shifting grief that followed, and why he chose to grieve publicly in a culture that often equates vulnerability with weakness.Together, Bun, Yvette, and Dionne explore how grief reshapes us, what community can repair, and the quiet ways our loved ones still reach for us. From faith to hip hop, from depression to legacy, this episode offers a rare look at a man who has carried grief in full view—and continues to transform it with honesty, service, and love.A powerful conversation for anyone navigating loss or supporting someone who is.Send us a textTwo Mothers, One Aché: A Grief Dialogue is produced and distributed by Merrick Studios and hosted by Yvette Dávila and Dionne C. Monsanto. Each episode offers a brave and intimate space where grief is spoken aloud, healing is shared, and love refuses to fade—listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever your journey takes you. Join the conversation on Instagram @2mothers1achepod and learn more at wearemerrickstudios.com/two-mothers-one-ache-pod. Original music by Dasan T. Broadnax, known artistically as O.D. Mongrel. Discover more of his work on all streaming platforms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Grief and the Body

In this episode of Two Mothers, One Aché, Dionne and Yvette welcome their very first guest—author, athlete, mother, and fierce grief-advocate, Myra Sack.Together, they explore how grief lives in the body—how it tightens the throat, aches in the heart, disrupts our systems, and demands to be felt. Myra shares the story behind her memoir 57 Fridays and the creation of eMotion, the nonprofit she founded to help grievers heal through movement, ritual, and community.The conversation flows through: • The physical symptoms of grief—and what they’re signaling • Emotional musculature and learning to trust ourselves again • Breathwork, micro-rituals, and the power of a “quiet mile” • The cultural discomfort with grief and why community mattersThis episode is tender, grounding, and transformative. A conversation for anyone learning to live in their body again after loss.Aché.Send us a textTwo Mothers, One Aché: A Grief Dialogue is produced and distributed by Merrick Studios and hosted by Yvette Dávila and Dionne C. Monsanto. Each episode offers a brave and intimate space where grief is spoken aloud, healing is shared, and love refuses to fade—listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever your journey takes you. Join the conversation on Instagram @2mothers1achepod and learn more at wearemerrickstudios.com/two-mothers-one-ache-pod. Original music by Dasan T. Broadnax, known artistically as O.D. Mongrel. Discover more of his work on all streaming platforms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rituals, Remembrance and Anniversaries

In this episode, Dionne and Yvette explore the rituals that help us carry our loved ones forward—especially on the hardest days. Sparked by a moving clip from Cardi B about grief, they dive into how culture, creativity, food, altars, anniversaries, and even breathwork become ways to honor memory and move through pain.From candle lighting and birthday traditions to sip-and-paints, playlists, and planting living memorials, they share practices that have sustained them through their own losses. They also talk honestly about the dates that hit hardest—and what to do when grief leaves you too depleted to do anything at all.Stay for the Aché Moment as they speak the names of their loved ones—and yours—into the space.Send us a textTwo Mothers, One Aché: A Grief Dialogue is produced and distributed by Merrick Studios and hosted by Yvette Dávila and Dionne C. Monsanto. Each episode offers a brave and intimate space where grief is spoken aloud, healing is shared, and love refuses to fade—listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever your journey takes you. Join the conversation on Instagram @2mothers1achepod and learn more at wearemerrickstudios.com/two-mothers-one-ache-pod. Original music by Dasan T. Broadnax, known artistically as O.D. Mongrel. Discover more of his work on all streaming platforms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Motherhood and Loss

In this powerful and intimate episode, co-hosts Yvette Love Dávila and Dionne C. Monsanto open their hearts to explore the tender intersection of motherhood and grief. Through laughter, breathwork, and raw storytelling, they hold space for the beauty, guilt, and resilience that come with being mothers after loss.Yvette shares the story of saying goodbye to her son, Dasan, and the difficult conversation of helping her daughter navigate life after his passing. Dionne recalls the moment she had to tell her son that his sister, Siwe, was gone—and the thousand quiet heartbreaks that follow. Together, they reflect on how grief reshapes family, how community becomes a lifeline, and how “grief guardians” show up when we need them most.With honesty and compassion, this conversation honors all who mother—biological or chosen—and invites listeners to breathe, feel, and remember that healing is a shared act of love.✨ Moment of Ashé: This episode honors Dasan, Siwe, Aunt Rosie, Sherry, and a dear child named Adir.🔗 Listen wherever you find peace.Send us a textTwo Mothers, One Aché: A Grief Dialogue is produced and distributed by Merrick Studios and hosted by Yvette Dávila and Dionne C. Monsanto. Each episode offers a brave and intimate space where grief is spoken aloud, healing is shared, and love refuses to fade—listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever your journey takes you. Join the conversation on Instagram @2mothers1achepod and learn more at wearemerrickstudios.com/two-mothers-one-ache-pod. Original music by Dasan T. Broadnax, known artistically as O.D. Mongrel. Discover more of his work on all streaming platforms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Defining Grief

In this deeply resonant episode, co-hosts Dionne C. Monsanto and Yvette Love Dávila return to ask a deceptively simple but transformative question: What do we really mean when we say grief?Together, they broaden the definition of grief beyond death—naming the hidden losses that shape who we are and the cultural silences that keep us from healing. Through raw, honest storytelling—from Uncle Al’s childhood heartbreak over a lost stroller to Yvette’s painful reckoning with her father’s disappearance—this conversation invites listeners to rethink how loss lives in our bodies, families, and communities.Yvette and Dionne explore the five stages of grief, unpack cultural expectations of strength and silence in Black and Latinx households, and reveal how unspoken grief can echo for generations. They weave humor, spirituality, and truth into a shared language of healing—reminding us that grief changes things, but it doesn’t get the final say.Take a breath, say the names of your loved ones, and join the dialogue. This episode is an invitation: to name your grief, to see it fully, and to begin the journey of living alongside it—with compassion, honesty, and aché.Send us a textTwo Mothers, One Aché: A Grief Dialogue is produced and distributed by Merrick Studios and hosted by Yvette Dávila and Dionne C. Monsanto. Each episode offers a brave and intimate space where grief is spoken aloud, healing is shared, and love refuses to fade—listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever your journey takes you. Join the conversation on Instagram @2mothers1achepod and learn more at wearemerrickstudios.com/two-mothers-one-ache-pod. Original music by Dasan T. Broadnax, known artistically as O.D. Mongrel. Discover more of his work on all streaming platforms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices