One of the first books about widowhood I read right after Rick’s death was The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion. I’ve always been an avid reader, so my natural response to anything is to search out a book ...
Now that I’m retired, I love taking writing courses. They challenge me and make me dive deeper into my feelings - and they also encourage me to make more time to write. In my current course, called "Writing to Heal," ...
When I was a never-married single mother in my late thirties, I went back to school, hoping to start a career so I could better support my son. Since I loved literature, I took every English Literature class available. I ...
Yesterday I woke up prepared for the worst. It was the eighth anniversary of losing Rick to lung cancer. But I realized that, as the years go by, the major events aren’t as painful as the loss of the little ...
I was having a lazy morning in bed, doing the Wordle and Spelling Bee on my phone. It’s my typical wake up routine now that there’s no job to run to, and I appreciate every minute of it. For most ...
In the eight years since Rick’s been gone, I’ve tried dating and managed to find three men who were potential partners. Yet, here I sit alone again, mulling over what went wrong with each budding relationship. One moved out of ...
In my writing course this week, we studied a poem by a poet named Li-Young Li. It was about devouring peaches and “taking what we love inside.” When the instructor recited a line from the poem - There are days ...
As a writer, I spend a lot of time alone, and a lot of time thinking - mostly contemplating life. Tonight, the holiday dinner is over, the kids and grandkids are all off on their merry way, and I sit ...
I've been excited about my latest adventure. The local library invited me to have a table with my books at their annual local author fair. I’ve never done it before - never even considered it, mostly because I never considered ...
It's that time, again. The ten-day period between the anniversary of Rick's death and his birthday, the day we held his celebration of life. August 13th to August 23rd, 2017: the most painful time of my life. After seven years, ...