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 ...
Emotions have always been difficult for me, I would be the first one to admit it. I can tell you how I should be feeling in a way that made sense by a textbook definition and I would usually leave ...
Yesterday, Rick and I would have celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary. It was the third one since he’s been gone. I made it through the fog of the first one. By the second one, I had adapted to life alone, ...
How I went from Wife to Widow to Happy I will always be my late husband’s wife. His legal documents all say as much, including the final ones. As of 3:11pm on February 11, 2018, however, I was no longer ...
“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 ...
I was at a four-day writers’ conference this past weekend. It was supposed to be on a lake in northern Michigan, but due to COVID, it was on Zoom. That’s a lot of screen time, but it was worth it. ...
I met a man. I like him a lot. He’s intelligent, funny, kind, interesting, and philosophical - all traits I desire in a partner. He says he likes me a lot, too - and he shows it in many ways. ...
Every morning I read a list of fifty things I have to be thankful for. I started doing this a few months ago; it was something my grief therapist suggested to help me get through the uncertainty and loneliness of ...
I thought today would be a difficult one to handle because it was Valentine's Day - the day for lovers - and mine is gone. It's my fourth year without Rick here, and after all this time, I'm used to ...
I was sitting alone in my car near a lake in the park when I heard some powerful words about grief and healing. Every afternoon when I get off work, I leave my home office and drive to this semi-secluded ...