I did 6 months of EMDR. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is an intense psychotherapy used for people with severe trauma and PTSD. I started about a month after Luke died, and I continued until I felt I could ...
Remembering the first year after Todd died revives all of its raw, nearly physical pain. That year was a waking nightmare. Sometimes, another widow’s post or comment reminds me of the early weeks and months, and I hurt for her ...
Let’s begin a discussion about death and grief and send that elephant out the door. To enable this, society requires an open dialogue that provides education and empathy regarding the true reality of the grief journey. A shift in the ...
Here we are, in some of the darkest days of the year. I know the days have begun to get incrementally longer since the solstice, but that change seems imperceptible. Cold weather keeps us inside, out of whatever meager, cloud-filtered ...
It’s been just over 10 months since I lost my husband. It still doesn’t even feel real, yet it somehow simultaneously feels like yesterday and forever all at once. All I know is that there is this deep ache ...
Have you realized the magic of the sisterhood of widows? I am so grateful for this opportunity to share in the sisterhood of widows at http://www.hopeforwidows.org. My first blog in this space fills me with pride and a mix of ...
At the top of my stairs is a picture of hands. Hands lovingly placed in a picture given to me by a family friend of the last Thanksgiving dinner my husband had with us as a family in 2014. ...
Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. Philippians 4:8 Sometimes it would be really easy to ...
This year has no doubt been a challenging year for everyone, in different ways. For me, 2020 marked the fifth anniversary of my husband’s death. On January 7th, I observed the mind-numbing fact that my husband had in fact been ...
As I was dealing with all the "fall out" of my husband's death, I found myself at the bottom of the list. The list of things to take care of always came before I cared for myself. I did not ...