Why I Wrote the Book That Changed My Life — and Could Change Yours Too
There are some stories we never imagined we’d have to tell.
Dear Drew: Creating a Life Bigger Than Grief is mine.
It’s the story of the unimaginable—losing my 4-year-old son, Drew, in a drowning accident. But it’s also the story of what came after. Of the long, painful, sacred journey of figuring out how to live again, how to feel joy, how to find meaning, how to build a future when the one you imagined was taken from you.
This book took me 25 years to write. Not because I didn’t have the words, but because I had to live the healing first. Every chapter is part of that journey, not just the grief, but the growth. Not just the heartbreak, but the hope.
And now, I’m finally ready to share it.
Why I Wrote This Book
After Drew died, my world split in two, my life before and my life after. I didn’t recognize myself anymore. I didn’t know how to function in a world where my son no longer existed.
Grief isolated me. People meant well, but I quickly learned how uncomfortable the world is with loss. The casseroles stopped coming. The check-ins became fewer. People stopped saying his name.
But I wasn’t done loving him. I wasn’t done being his mother. I just didn’t know how to do that in the absence of his physical presence.
Eventually, I stopped pretending I was okay. I let the silence speak. I let the pain have a voice. And that’s where healing began—not with perfection, but with truth.
Dear Drew was born from that place. Not as a how-to manual for grief, but as a lived experience of what it means to rebuild your life from the ashes of it.
When I wrote Dear Drew, I knew I didn’t want to write a book full of clichés or tidy endings. I wanted to tell the truth. About how grief breaks you open. About how it changes the way you see everything. About how healing is not linear and joy is not betrayal.
Every chapter is a letter—to my son, to myself, and to anyone who’s ever wondered if they could feel whole again after loss.
It’s raw. It’s real. And it’s filled with the wisdom I gained by choosing to stay in the work of healing, even when it hurt.
Who This Book Is For?
This book is for the mother who cries in silence when no one is watching.
It’s for the father who doesn’t have the words to explain the ache in his chest.
It’s for the person who looks like they have it all together, but is silently unraveling inside.
Dear Drew is for anyone who has loved and lost—and who wants to believe that something beautiful can still come next.
You Don’t Have to Move On—But You Can Move Forward
Grief doesn’t end. It reshapes you. And for a long time, I thought that meant my story was over. But what I’ve learned is this:
Your story doesn’t end at the moment of loss.
It changes. It deepens. But if you let it, it can also expand.
The life I live now isn’t the one I planned but it’s still meaningful. Still joyful. Still filled with moments of connection that take my breath away.
That’s what I mean by a life “bigger” than grief. Not one without pain, but one that can hold both the sorrow and the beauty.
If You’re Ready
If you’re tired of pretending you’re fine…
If you want to believe that healing is possible…
If you want a companion on the road back to yourself…
This book is for you.
Dear Drew: Creating a Life Bigger Than Grief is available wherever books are sold. You can also visit melissahull.com to order a signed copy and explore additional healing tools and resources I’ve created.
Let this be the start of a new chapter. One that doesn’t erase your loss but honors it by choosing to live fully, deeply, and honestly… in spite of it.
Because your story isn’t over. And your heart is big enough to hold both the pain—and the beauty still to come.
With love,
Melissa