DRIED CHERRY JUICE SERIES

🍒 Chapter 23: Flooding of Mental Health Issues

This episode focuses on Cece's mental health history and neurodivergence. She reflects on growing up in an anxious, high-stimulation world and shares memories of her Nana’s understanding of depression as a true chemical imbalance.

Cece explains her diagnoses over time — including ADHD, learning differences in math and science, OCD tendencies, bipolar II, major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, PTSD, seasonal affective disorder, and insomnia. She describes how treatment evolved through medication, counseling, and self-care strategies.

The chapter blends humor with vulnerability as she illustrates what ADHD feels like in everyday life, how her brain jumps between tasks, and how structure sometimes becomes more consuming than productivity. Ultimately, she highlights how finding the right support and balance helped her stabilize and grow.

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⚠️ Potential triggers featured in this episode may include, but are not limited to:

• Depression and anxiety

No graphic sexual content is included.

🍒 Chapter 22 — Contagion, Chaos, & Conflagrations

Cece transitions from newlywed life into the onset of serious medical challenges. She first reflects on her early work history and shares a heartwarming story about receiving a workplace award for her “contagious positive attitude.” Despite this, her health worsened, leading her to step back from employment and become a homemaker while seeking answers.

This episode introduces the beginning of her autoimmune journey — including lupus, celiac disease, tachycardia, and leukemia — explained in plain, accessible language. Cece describes what an autoimmune disorder actually is, how it affects the body, and what daily life looks like with chronic illness, including hair loss and fatigue.

She balances humor with honesty, using lighthearted coping jokes (“But I have cancer”) to process heavy realities while emphasizing that Google is not a doctor and self-diagnosis is not medical care.

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⚠️ Potential triggers featured in this episode may include, but are not limited to:

• Autoimmune disease discussion

No graphic sexual content is included.

🍒 Chapter 21: Juggling Losses & Gains • Part 2

This episode moves from grief into the reality of planning a wedding amid family division. Cece describes how most of her father’s side of the family chose not to attend after her dad refused to walk her down the aisle. She reflects on her mother’s extraordinary effort to help fund and plan the wedding while working multiple jobs.

The story then shifts into the chaotic — and often hilarious — behind-the-scenes reality of wedding day preparation: a late hairstylist, last-minute makeup improvisation, an allergic reaction to body glitter, and a groom who showed up three hours early out of pure excitement.

Cece recounts walking down the aisle with her Papaw in cowboy boots, the pastor dropping the ring, forgetting to say “You may kiss the bride,” and the iconic music mishap when Hilary Duff’s Danger accidentally played instead of With Love. The chapter ends with a joyful send-off, a road trip to Branson, and the start of their honeymoon.

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⚠️ Potential triggers featured in this episode may include, but are not limited to:

• Family estrangement around a wedding

No graphic sexual content is included.

🍒 Chapter 20: Juggling Losses & Gains • Part 1

In one of the most emotionally complex chapters, Cece prepares for her wedding while grieving a sudden family tragedy. Just days before the ceremony, her future brother-in-law is killed by a drunk driver, casting a shadow over what should have been a joyful week. Cece reflects on comforting her young niece at the funeral and honoring her future sister-in-law’s wishes to continue with the wedding. The episode also addresses painful family conflict when Cece's father refuses to walk her down the aisle, leading her to ask her beloved Papaw to escort her instead — a moment of both heartbreak and grace.

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⚠️ Potential triggers featured in this episode may include, but are not limited to:

• Sudden death of a loved one

No graphic sexual content is included.

🍒 Chapter 19: Ceremonies, Conflicts, & Conflagrations

This episode chronicles the final rupture of Cece's childhood home. After repeated conflict, her mother asks her father to leave and files for divorce, obtaining emergency restraining orders. Cece describes hiding her truck at Bryce’s house, the anxiety of hearing the garage door open, and a frightening incident where her father attempts to enter the house despite changed locks. She reflects on forgiveness versus forgetting, breaking cycles of resentment, and learning to stop being a “welcome mat.” The chapter ends on a pivot toward the wedding — signaling both loss and new beginnings.

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⚠️ Potential triggers featured in this episode may include, but are not limited to:

• Divorce and restraining orders

No graphic sexual content is included.

🍒 Chapter 18: The Boiling Point • Part 2

Cece returns home hoping for resolution — and instead encounters further escalation. This episode explores a traumatic breakdown in family dynamics: arguments, a panic attack, a physical altercation with her brother, and the removal of her car keys to prevent her from leaving. Family counseling follows, but her father refuses to take responsibility for his behavior, deepening the rift. The chapter illustrates how cycles of blame, fear, and control can trap everyone involved — and how painful it can be when accountability never arrives.

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⚠️ Potential triggers featured in this episode may include, but are not limited to:

• Panic attacks and hyperventilation

No graphic sexual content is included.

🍒 Chapter 17: The Boiling Point • Part 1

Cece blends warmth and tension in this episode as she recounts choosing her beloved chihuahua Zoie — the “mean puppy” who perfectly matched her personality — and shares humorous memories of early adulthood, Blockbuster dates, and the chaos of a house full of pets. Beneath the humor, conflict is escalating at home: double standards around responsibility, her father’s controlling behavior, and growing strain between Cece and her dad. The chapter culminates in a major confrontation that leads to Cece being told to leave the house — and her choosing to go with Bryce for safety and support.

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⚠️ Potential triggers featured in this episode may include, but are not limited to:

• Emotional abuse in a household

No graphic sexual content is included.

🍒 Chapter 16: A Not-So-Steady Flow

Cece centers this episode on the reality of living with severe menstrual symptoms as a teenager with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Cece describes the physical toll of unpredictable, extremely painful periods, missed school and work, and recurring anemia from blood loss. She also reflects on how these experiences intersected with her relationship with Bryce, who supported her practically and without shame — even buying feminine products when she needed them. This moment becomes a flashpoint with her father, revealing deeper issues of control, shame, and rigidity in the household. The chapter closes with a powerful reflection on how children from unsafe environments often over-explain themselves in an attempt to avoid unjust punishment.

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⚠️ Potential triggers featured in this episode may include, but are not limited to:

• Menstruation and heavy bleeding

No graphic sexual content is included, but themes of reproductive health and family conflict are present.

🍒 Chapter 13: Crash

Cece details the emotional breakup with Toby during his basic training and her rebound relationship with Garrett. As she begins working at a major hospital, she forms important friendships — including with Bryce — while still secretly dating Garrett against her father’s wishes. The chapter builds toward the night of a serious car accident that changes everything.

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⚠️ Potential triggers featured in this episode may include, but are not limited to:

No graphic sexual content is included.

🍒 Chapter 12: Baby Got Back... Draft

Cece recounts her first serious love with Toby, navigating secrecy, teenage sexuality, and strict parental rules that offered no education or contraception beyond “don’t do it.” When rumors reach her mother, Cece panics and backtracks. She describes sneaking around, pregnancy scares, and how control at home shaped her choices — ending with Toby leaving for the military and gifting her a promise ring.

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 ⚠️Potential triggers featured in this episode may include, but are not limited to:

No graphic sexual content is included.