Hi, I’m Shan Jeniah!

I am  an author, unschooling mom, and recent widow. My mission is finding  and sharing the blessings and yessings in life’s messings!

Short Bio:

I wrote my first book at age 7, while trying to comprehend a classmate’s murder. Decades later, blogging about the death of my newborn son showed me that my words could touch others and bring them solace against their own pain. Through writing, we can connect and heal together.

Long Bio:

On January 12, 2018, my Accomplice in Mischief died of pancreatic cancer , and my 20 plus year marriage was suddenly over.

Now, just before my fiftieth year, I’m facing two successive reinventions of myself – from wife to widow, and from homeschooling stay-at-home mom to eventual empty-nester. 

Because I’m an optimistic realist, I seek out the wonder and magic even in this messy, unexpected transition. Because I’m a writer, I’m driven to share challenges and victories along the way as our former family of four adapts and reshapes into a family of three.

I believe there are always things to be learned and shared, and that there is  a hidden treasure in the chaos of pain. In my essays, fiction, and poetry, I explore this sharp-edged beauty from many perspectives, and with as much honesty as I can muster. It’s my hope that I can offer you a glimpse of the loveliness of chaos, and that you can hold to it when there seems nothing else to hold to.

I live with my teens, two rescue dogs, two rescue cats, and three fish in upstate New York, in a house filled with (sometimes not so) lovely chaos.