05/10/2026
Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms, the mother figures, the grieving children, and especially those spending today missing someone they love. 🤍
Today is emotional for me because Mel’s Cravings is more than just a small business to me.
It’s a piece of my heart. It’s for my mom, Melanie Neapetung.
My mom passed away on December 2, 2023.
She battled addiction and mental health struggles for many years, something that affects so many Indigenous families and communities. In her final days, she was in the hospital while I was away in treatment for substance abuse myself. That pain is something I still carry every day.
My mom was kind, funny, loving, and she truly tried her best in life despite everything she went through. She deserved more support, more understanding, and more care than this world gave her. Addiction and trauma do not define who a person is. So many of our people are carrying pain that started generations before us through colonization, residential schools, family separation, abuse, poverty, and systemic discrimination. A lot of us were never taught how to heal, only how to survive.
When my mom passed, my family and I spent every day by her side while she was on life support. There are still many unanswered questions surrounding her death, and it’s something that has been incredibly hard for us to process. Indigenous men and women are too often overlooked, dismissed, and failed by systems that are supposed to protect them. It happens far too often, and many families are left carrying grief without justice or closure.
For a long time, I stayed quiet about everything. I think part of that silence comes from generations of Indigenous people being taught to suppress pain, accept mistreatment, and keep moving forward because that’s what survival looked like for our families for centuries. But I don’t want silence anymore. I want healing.
That is part of why I started Mel’s Cravings.
I wanted to build something my mom would be proud of. Something positive. Something full of life, creativity, laughter, and community. This business is commemorating her life and her memory. Every event, every drink, every little accomplishment means something so much bigger to me.
I want to break cycles.
I want to show other Indigenous people that healing, growth, and rebuilding your life is possible even after addiction, trauma, loss, and hardship. I want to be an inspiration to others who feel like they’ve been through too much to start over.
I miss my mom dearly every single day, and I hope somehow she can see what I’m trying to do with my life now. I hope she knows I carry her with me in everything I do.
Thank you to everyone supporting Mel’s Cravings.
You’re supporting more than a business, you’re supporting healing, remembrance, and a dream built from love. 🤍
