Loneliness – empty, silent, depressing, unwelcome Solitude – peaceful, thought-provoking, nourishing, welcome Being alone during that first year of grief was frightening. I dreaded hearing nothing and feeling everything. In the aloneness I was so aware of my devastating loss ...
It seems that in life a young widow so very often feels like an oddly shaped piece that doesn’t fit into the puzzle of life going on around them. Many families around you are established and complete. They have their ...
Father's Day has passed for another year. This one and Mother's Day can be tough dates for the widow/er community. In my mere six-plus years in this sad little club, I have noticed the sentiments for Father's Day in particular ...
It's been well over six years since I became a widow and if I'm being honest, I still have not settled everything that needs to be settled following the death of a spouse. Most everything that needed tending to was ...
Assumptions NOT to make about a widow (even if you are one yourself). 1) Don’t assume you know exactly how she feels. 2) Don’t assume that because you lost a parent or another loved one, that you understand ...
Embracing Grief in the Summer: Finding Solace in the Sunshine Summer is often associated with warmth, joy, and carefree moments. It's a season of long, sunlit days, vacations, and gatherings with family and friends. However, for those experiencing grief, summer ...
We've all heard the saying "You won't understand (* something *) until it happens to you." Intellectually, we get what that means, but we won't truly know, to the depths of our souls, the accuracy of that phrase until something ...
Living without my husband feels so much like a cruel sentence. It feels like I have lost so much at a such a young age, and continuing here the remaining years of my life, separated from him at times ...
When we are in the throes of deep grief, it's tough to imagine how anything else, ever, could be worse than what we are feeling. Pain and grief feel incredibly isolating. They are deceptive as well - even when others ...
March Forth It’s reflex to set the fourth place. My arms move quick across the dinner table. Then I pull them back like children in danger. People don’t understand – It’s not just the Big Obvious ...