When I was 25, my father died in an accident. I was a young adult who still needed her dad. However, I was married with a toddler and with on the way. I was a college graduate and military officer ...
Several years ago I learned about International Widow's Day (June 23rd), a day set aside to recognize the hardships that widows face from loss, that fell one day after National Onion Rings Day. Even after becoming a widow in December ...
I am divorced. And I am a widow. I’m a divorced (not remarried) widow. Can those two identities co-exist? I’ve asked myself this question a lot over the past three years and I still haven’t found an answer. AJ and ...
When David died, I never knew how to answer "how are you doing?" Sometimes they would respond to their own question with "day by day, I guess, eh? Yup just day by day," why were people asking rhetorical questions? What ...
This past week, I was up at our cottage in northern Michigan, and I joined the family at nearby Ocqueoc Falls. Rick used to make fun of the falls. When I first took him there, he kept laughing as he ...
Suggestion: If you have people that count on you on a daily basis, try and get your shit together enough to be there for them at least briefly each day. If those people are your children, they need you. ...
“Hello darkness, my old friend…” are the haunting lyrics of the beginning of the Simon and Garfunkel song, “The Sounds of Silence,” that have ebbed and flowed their way through the American musical fabric over the years. I know I ...
Own your grief, but don’t let grief own you. You’ve been through hell on Earth. You’ve endured a loss only few can comprehend. You get to cry whenever you feel like it, for whatever reason. You get to be a ...
Watching TV can be a minefield for widows. I noticed this soon after I lost my husband; we were in the last season of The Sopranos. I could never make myself finish it after his death. But, I kept thinking ...
The first widow I reached out to after my husband died had lost her husband about 3 years prior. She was so honest and open on social media with where she was at during her whole journey. I remember ...