It’s strange to always be walking around with Kenny. I named it Kenny, because if something is going to hang out for this long, it ought to be named. I also asked Google, my therapist, and ChatGPT about it, all ...
Seven years. Seven years ago today you changed my life forever. I wouldn’t trade a second of any of it even if the outcome was the same. Not the hard moments and not the sad moments, all of them meant ...
Forecasts of the coming storm started flashing across social media about three days before it actually hit us, which gave me time to head to Walmart for supplies. My youngest daughter and I go backpacking a lot, so we dug ...
As a writer, I spend a lot of time alone, and a lot of time thinking - mostly contemplating life. Tonight, the holiday dinner is over, the kids and grandkids are all off on their merry way, and I sit ...
The first Thanksgiving I spent with Jay, he was not yet my husband. We weren’t even dating. He and his family lived across the street from my grandma, and we had all gathered potluck style. Mostly, he had annoyed me. ...
All moms face weariness, but for a widowed mom, that weariness can be tenfold. When you become a mom, you hear catchy phrases to remind you to take care of yourself, like “an empty cup can't pour out anything” or ...
I married my best friend in autumn—two became one. Finding my true love and then tragically losing him literally crushed my heart and weighed down my soul. My deep love for him created this very deep grief that doesn’t go ...
The cashier insisted I bring home two pumpkins and a giant bag of candy after I awkwardly responded to her Halloween inquiry. ‘Uhm, Halloween just....isn't in the cards this year.' A thousand responses had flipped through my mind when she ...
I short circuit sometimes – when life gets too stressful – to a memory that repeats in haunting fashion. It is the lips of the doctor mouthing the words, “These things happen.” His lips are chapped and peeling. The corners ...
Anger is stage two, according to the five stages of grief. Widows know that there are no stages but rather a flurry of emotions that occur all at once or independently and repeat randomly. Anger can be difficult to deal ...