When my husband passed suddenly at the age of 32, I was quite pregnant with our second child and was a stay at home mother to our then 18 month old. Despite being an intelligent and capable 31 year old ...
I never really felt comfortable with the word “widow”, I guess I’m not really supposed to, right? Like, who wants that word to describe who they are? But it does describe an aspect of who I am. Actually, now I ...
We all know that feeling of a broken heart - wow, do we ever. After Dave died my heart literally felt physically broken. It was doing flip-flops in my chest and skipping beats like crazy. I’d been diagnosed with a ...
Since my husband died, I’ve learned that the word “widow” can be a label, as if being a widow is a static condition. It’s deceptively simple and cloaks the fact that each widow is unique and that widowhood and grief ...
“Melissa, you’re brilliant!” I thought to myself. I had this great idea to spend our first holiday after Dave’s death in Disneyland. What a perfect distraction, right? I walked downstairs where the boys were playing video games - they were ...
Grief can be like two sides of the same coin. It is possible to miss and reflect on what we had, yet also create new memories and decide to fully live again – even through the holidays. This is how ...
Anyone who has experienced loss knows how difficult holidays can be, and how traditions can be tricky beasts. For me, the first holiday season after Gary died fell a mere 3 months later. We were all still in shock. When ...
Memories I'm writing this post on my 20th wedding anniversary with Dave - he died suddenly in his sleep almost 10 years ago. I have a little smile on my face as I remember getting to know him as a ...
I push to move forward and reclaim my broken life. I want to thrive and build a life full of good memories with my children despite being so shattered by death stealing from our home. It was three years in ...
A Thanks to You... I used to serve you your plate of food the moment you were ready. Sure, you had days when you waited on me. It was the joy I relished in when I could feed you a ...