For two years now, Todd has been the first thing I think of when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I think of when I fall asleep. There is always an awareness that he isn’t with ...
I was pondering how different my life is now that I'm coming up on another new year without Rick. I'm used to this new normal. I'm past the heavy grieving stage, and I'm living the life of a single woman. ...
Once you make it through the first year after losing someone, everyone seems to take a deep breath and get back to their regularly scheduled lives. You’ve made it through the one year milestones, the calls and messages slow down, ...
Tonight, my eleven year old asked me if I was excited for Thanksgiving and the upcoming holidays. I looked at her, too exhausted to be anything but honest in my reply. “I am always excited to spend the holidays with ...
My biggest concern after my husband died was, “Oh my gosh I have to tell my kids. How?”. How are they going to react? How will they handle this? I knew I was going to change their world forever with ...
It was maybe 2 years after my husband died, when a Facebook memory popped up. I am sure many people feel the crippling sadness and/or joy that comes when a memory pops up. It’s like a dagger to your ...
So often now, in the midst of happiness, I’ll feel this gloom settle over me. I know right away that it’s not a “random” sadness; it’s definitely Rick-related. I feel those tears just below the surface, a very mild form ...
When Jared died, my entire world changed. It doesn't mean that my world couldn’t be good, or that I couldn’t be happy, or have a life filled with joy. It just means my world has changed. But until you have ...
When I first stumbled across the Hope for Widows website over a year ago, I thought, What in the world? Hope? How can a widow of all people have hope? Hope for what? Hope in what? Hope that I don’t ...
A friend of mine told me the other day how a new song on the radio makes her think of my late husband Matthew. She said it reminds her of all the fun memories we all had over the years—like ...