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 ...
Rejections are a part of any writer's life and as a writer, I've seen my fair share. If I want to basically guarantee a rejection though, all I have to do is submit a piece about widowhood. It doesn't matter ...
Trigger Warning: Suicide; Death by Suicide; Bullying. Everyone has an opinion about celebrity suicides - and they can be quite hurtful. As someone who was widowed by suicide, please allow me to explain just how traumatizing all the different opinions ...
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 ...
Losing my husband was one of the hardest experiences my kids and I have ever faced. As a widow and a mother, I felt the overwhelming pressure to support my children through their grief, all while trying to process my ...
That doesn't take away the lives they lived. Memories of our time together still remain, etched deeply into both psyche and soul. The laughs we shared together continue to exist, just in other energetic forms. Photos, videos, letters, and other ...
I still feel married. The dichotomy of this phrase is largely dismissed by widows. Conversely, we pass it around like bread at the dinner table, slathering it with butter and comforting our palates with the way it rolls off our ...
I have always been the person who can manage to find the humor in most situations. Laughter has always been my drug of choice. But when the realization that my husband was truly gone hit me, I didn't think I ...
I have believed in God for as long as I can remember. My mother and the church indoctrinated me with visions of the cross, and on Sundays, I trailed behind her with hurried steps while she marched us towards service ...
Grief is something that widows live with and it is also what makes everyone around us uncomfortable. The reality of grief is that it’s permanent; it’s not something we get over or outgrow. Grief exists near the surface of life ...