New Posts

Camp Widow Serendipity . . .

Camp Widow Serendipity . . .

… a story. It was September of 2022 in Denver at the local community college. A widow, finding no support options in Mississippi, arrives via a road trip where Soaring Spirits is offering a one-day...

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“Pas Voulu Mais Choisi”

“Pas Voulu Mais Choisi”

Image by Josue Michel on Unsplash 18 March 2023 I have just come back from my Saturday morning swim with the Masters. When I say, “with the Masters”, I speak rather relatively. Yes, I am part of the...

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Our Anniversary, Number 16 and Number 2

Our Anniversary, Number 16 and Number 2

  Friday would have been our 16th wedding anniversary and it’s the 2nd one he’s missed. The last two years I have intentionally been away from home on St. Patrick’s Day. Last year, the kids...

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Growing in Circles

Growing in Circles

Last Saturday I wrote about staying in place after losing a spouse or significant other. It isn’t easy to stay in a home that looks the same to everyone else, but doesn’t feel the same to the one who...

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Winks

Winks

I go through these phases where I feel like Boris is sending me signs, or sometimes I call them “winks”, and then there are long periods of time where I feel like I get nothing. I feel like he isn’t...

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Music to My Ears

Music to My Ears

I am not a fan of country music. However, bluegrass music is a guilty pleasure. I admire the technical skill required to play as fast and as clean as its finest practitioners. I like the twangy two, three...

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How Lucky Are We?

How Lucky Are We?

The Wonder of a Camp for Widowed People (the sequel) It is truly a wonder that a camp for widowed people exists! In October 2021, after I attended my first camp, I wrote about it here. This is the sequel...

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A Monstruous Web of Grief and Loss

A Monstruous Web of Grief and Loss

Main image by Guille Pozzi on Unsplash I saw yet another film today. I am seeing rather a few at the moment. Anytime I go into town, I work out whether or not I can sneak in a film on my way home. And...

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My Blogiversary

My Blogiversary

This post marks my one-year anniversary as a writer for the Widow’s Voice. 52 weeks of sharing my journey with fellow widowed people and our support networks that follow this blog. There are weeks I...

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Staying in Place

Staying in Place

I remember the day I drove home from the hospital up in Brunswick, Georgia, with the hard realization that Rich would never be walking up to our front door again. That is a sobering and defining moment...

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Another Birthday Letter to Boris

Another Birthday Letter to Boris

Boris,  Today you should be turning 32. I feel like I need to catch you up on what life is like right now, on what would be your 32nd birthday, but I kind of feel like you already know? (I am not really...

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Hiking With Some Friends Across Desert Mountains

Hiking With Some Friends Across Desert Mountains

It’s sunny and clear, but still cool on this late winter morning when Linda, Ross, and I arrive at the trailhead parking lot in Ross’ car.  Lola and I were the first to arrive at Ross and Janet’s...

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Newly Widowed

Camp Widow Serendipity . . .

Camp Widow Serendipity . . .

… a story. It was September of 2022 in Denver at the local community college. A widow, finding no support options in Mississippi, arrives via a road trip where Soaring Spirits is offering a one-day...

Read More

How Lucky Are We?

How Lucky Are We?

The Wonder of a Camp for Widowed People (the sequel) It is truly a wonder that a camp for widowed people exists! In October 2021, after I attended my first camp, I wrote about it here. This is the sequel...

Read More

Transformation

Transformation

Days of the “goo” were common, in the first days of grief in spring 2021. Goo refers to what happens to caterpillars after they close themselves up in a cocoon. They liquify and live in the...

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Working Woman Still

Working Woman Still

When Dan was alive he used to tell me I worked too hard. The word “work” mostly referred to one or another creative project in addition to my professional job. He was right. I don’t have...

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A Story of Widowed Life

A Story of Widowed Life

as told by the Nasturtiums Signs of spring are everywhere in Riverside, California. Today’s post is a story board, courtesy of a magical plant whose leaves are a story in and of themselves. Studying...

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A Love Letter

A Love Letter

After Valentine’s Day Hey love, I made it through another valentines day — so well, in fact, that I forgot it was Wednesday and I’m just writing this! Writing to you is always easier...

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Valentines, Valentines, Valentines Everywhere . . .

Valentines, Valentines, Valentines Everywhere . . .

. . it’s here again In trying to take stock of Valentine’s Day past, memory is fuzzy. Images come forward of our last V-Day together… Family room with hospital bed set up Candles Decorative...

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Both/And

Both/And

Both/And thinking [the opposite of either/or thinking] recognizes the folly of assuming that the new will totally supplant the old. Seeing with Both/And eyes recognizes that two opposite realities can...

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Inspiration from

Inspiration from

The Widow Clicquot Who was 4 and a half feet tall with light colored hair and grey eyes and stormed the champagne industry during the French Revolution? That’s right! Barbe-Nicole: The Lady Herself...

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Mapping Grief:

Mapping Grief:

A Man Called Otto. We first meet Otto six months after his wife’s death. With no apparent family, and having cut ties with those he was once close with, a grief-stricken Otto is isolated and in constant...

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Resilience

Resilience

What is resilience? the Sea asked the Rock   Ask the tree the Rock replied   What is Resilience? the Sea asked the Tree   We are it the Tree replied Sky, Tree, Plants, Rock, and Sea  ...

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Regrouping After Trauma

Regrouping After Trauma

Step By Step Professionals who write about trauma these days say that when a person experiences a trauma (small or large) it is important to allow the trauma to “keep moving through” our psyche...

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Soaring Spirits Interational

Soaring Spirits Interational

Soaring Spirits builds community. We create, and maintain, innovative peer-based grief support programs for widowed men and women that serve a worldwide population. Based on the powerful connections created by shared experience, we endeavor to ensure that no one need grieve alone.

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“Pas Voulu Mais Choisi”

“Pas Voulu Mais Choisi”

Image by Josue Michel on Unsplash 18 March 2023 I have just come back from my Saturday morning swim with the Masters. When I say, “with the Masters”, I speak rather relatively. Yes, I am part of the...

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Love Is Not Always Enough

Love Is Not Always Enough

Image by freestocks on Unsplash Last night I saw “The Son”, which I knew would be a hard film. (** Spoiler Alerts ** Don’t read if you want to see the film **) I knew from the trailer that it was...

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Conversations Without Spaces Erase Entire Lives

Conversations Without Spaces Erase Entire Lives

Main image by Red Zeppelin on Unsplash I was invited for dinner at a friend’s house last night. Medjool was also invited and joined. We so rarely get invited out as a couple. His friends invite him out,...

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Two Boyfriends.

Two Boyfriends.

Boris, I was not really sure if this would ever happen, or when it might happen, or if it was even possible to happen. But, I think I have a boyfriend. Or, would I say another boyfriend? Or an alive boyfriend?...

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It’s Not About the Roses

It’s Not About the Roses

Image by Yoksel on Unsplash It’s Valentine’s Day already in some parts of the world. I know that the date fills a number of my fellow widbuds with Horror. Or Grief. Or Sadness. Or Resentment. There’s...

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Violent Dreams to Usher In the Year of the Rabbit

Violent Dreams to Usher In the Year of the Rabbit

Image by Gary Bendig on Unsplash I have woken late this morning – almost 9 am – very late for me. But I have been drifting in and out of sleep for the past few hours – since before 6 am. I no longer...

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In Praise of Love and Mountains

In Praise of Love and Mountains

Photo and Art by Véronique Balcerzak After Mike died, I made an effort, particularly at Christmastime, to ensure there was a gift from him, not only for each of the kids, but also for myself. The first...

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When your brain & heart are overwhelmed.

When your brain & heart are overwhelmed.

Recently, I had one of those weekends where I did way too much. I haven’t had one of these kinds of weekends in a while. I overcommitted myself and tried to “do it all”, without really...

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Countdown

Countdown

It was supposed to have been Costa Rica. Or it could have been Panama. Maybe Ecuador, or even Nicaragua. Our long planned journey of a lifetime: to experience the joys of eternal spring, high in the green...

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Learning to Shuck Oysters at 55

Learning to Shuck Oysters at 55

Main image by Tommaso Cantelli on Unsplash. Other pictures my own. I am a bit of an Omnivore, in that I eat everything, and always have done. I have never been a fussy eater, I have a great appetite (which...

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For once, the tears weren’t (only) mine

For once, the tears weren’t (only) mine

Main Image by Zac Ong on Unsplash Last Sunday I completed a 20 km running event. My first event of that distance (or so) in three years. I wrote about the run’s run-up last week. I have so often been...

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Witnessing Deep, Rich Love, Sorrow and Pain in Others

Witnessing Deep, Rich Love, Sorrow and Pain in Others

Image by Whoislimos on Unsplash I spent some deeply touching moments, minutes, hours yesterday evening, during my shift at the hospice. We have a beautiful new resident. She is a true beauty. Glorious...

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Our Anniversary, Number 16 and Number 2

Our Anniversary, Number 16 and Number 2

  Friday would have been our 16th wedding anniversary and it’s the 2nd one he’s missed. The last two years I have intentionally been away from home on St. Patrick’s Day. Last year, the kids...

Read More

A Love Letter

A Love Letter

After Valentine’s Day Hey love, I made it through another valentines day — so well, in fact, that I forgot it was Wednesday and I’m just writing this! Writing to you is always easier...

Read More

It’s Not About the Roses

It’s Not About the Roses

Image by Yoksel on Unsplash It’s Valentine’s Day already in some parts of the world. I know that the date fills a number of my fellow widbuds with Horror. Or Grief. Or Sadness. Or Resentment. There’s...

Read More

Happily Paired, or “Quirkyalone”, Happy Valentines Day

Happily Paired, or “Quirkyalone”, Happy Valentines Day

Last Saturday, I was fortunate to join other local artists for an art gala in my local community. It had been many years since I’d exhibited at or had been involved in the organization of such an event...

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Valentines, Valentines, Valentines Everywhere . . .

Valentines, Valentines, Valentines Everywhere . . .

. . it’s here again In trying to take stock of Valentine’s Day past, memory is fuzzy. Images come forward of our last V-Day together… Family room with hospital bed set up Candles Decorative...

Read More

In Praise of Love and Mountains

In Praise of Love and Mountains

Photo and Art by Véronique Balcerzak After Mike died, I made an effort, particularly at Christmastime, to ensure there was a gift from him, not only for each of the kids, but also for myself. The first...

Read More

Word of the Year

Word of the Year

In my very first post here I said I’ve never been a New Year resolution kind of gal. I still maintain that I am not. For me, the resolutions are too specific and confined that make me feel destined to...

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Vacationing Without Him

Vacationing Without Him

After the success of surprising my kids last year with a Christmas trip to Orlando, I decided to try it again this year. On Christmas morning, they woke up to a scavenger hunt that revealed we were going...

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Channelling Spirits this Christmas

Channelling Spirits this Christmas

Image by Rob Wicks on Unsplash Today is my first “me day” in a fat week. I have had eight (mostly enjoyable, if also busy) continuous days of catering and making, shopping and cooking, organising and...

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Grief Is…a repost worth sharing

Grief Is…a repost worth sharing

This week was the first anniversary of Tony’s death. Despite the strange time warp of grief, I have pulled us along into the second year. One hour, one day, one week, one month at a time. I imagine the...

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On Becoming a Sentimental Slob

On Becoming a Sentimental Slob

I used to think I was such an emotional tough guy. It is true, of course, that I had sobbed in my bed like a baby on the night my grandmother died, after displaying what I thought had been laudable stoicism...

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Slightly Lighter

Slightly Lighter

Image by Caleb Woods on Unsplash I survived another Christmas Day. Woohoo! I survived yet another Christmas Day. I am impressed. And of all of the above words, the word “survived” is the one that least...

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Camp Widow®

Camp Widow®

Camp Widow® is a unique and incredible experience. This program provides both practical tools and relevant resources for widowed persons rebuilding their lives in the aftermath of the death of a spouse or partner.

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Camp Widow Serendipity . . .

Camp Widow Serendipity . . .

… a story. It was September of 2022 in Denver at the local community college. A widow, finding no support options in Mississippi, arrives via a road trip where Soaring Spirits is offering a one-day...

Read More

“Pas Voulu Mais Choisi”

“Pas Voulu Mais Choisi”

Image by Josue Michel on Unsplash 18 March 2023 I have just come back from my Saturday morning swim with the Masters. When I say, “with the Masters”, I speak rather relatively. Yes, I am part of the...

Read More

Our Anniversary, Number 16 and Number 2

Our Anniversary, Number 16 and Number 2

  Friday would have been our 16th wedding anniversary and it’s the 2nd one he’s missed. The last two years I have intentionally been away from home on St. Patrick’s Day. Last year, the kids...

Read More

Growing in Circles

Growing in Circles

Last Saturday I wrote about staying in place after losing a spouse or significant other. It isn’t easy to stay in a home that looks the same to everyone else, but doesn’t feel the same to the one who...

Read More

How Lucky Are We?

How Lucky Are We?

The Wonder of a Camp for Widowed People (the sequel) It is truly a wonder that a camp for widowed people exists! In October 2021, after I attended my first camp, I wrote about it here. This is the sequel...

Read More

A Monstruous Web of Grief and Loss

A Monstruous Web of Grief and Loss

Main image by Guille Pozzi on Unsplash I saw yet another film today. I am seeing rather a few at the moment. Anytime I go into town, I work out whether or not I can sneak in a film on my way home. And...

Read More

My Blogiversary

My Blogiversary

This post marks my one-year anniversary as a writer for the Widow’s Voice. 52 weeks of sharing my journey with fellow widowed people and our support networks that follow this blog. There are weeks I...

Read More

Staying in Place

Staying in Place

I remember the day I drove home from the hospital up in Brunswick, Georgia, with the hard realization that Rich would never be walking up to our front door again. That is a sobering and defining moment...

Read More

Transformation

Transformation

Days of the “goo” were common, in the first days of grief in spring 2021. Goo refers to what happens to caterpillars after they close themselves up in a cocoon. They liquify and live in the...

Read More

Exercise as Self Care

Exercise as Self Care

Why is it so hard to prioritize ourselves and our health? Before Tony passed, I had started a workout routine that I enjoyed. It was the first time since having kids that I had started one and was sticking...

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March-ing Forth with The Memory Keepers

March-ing Forth with The Memory Keepers

February was a busy time on several fronts. The local Art Gala that had taken months of committee work and preparation for me as an organizer and participating artist was a great success. The hard work,...

Read More

Working Woman Still

Working Woman Still

When Dan was alive he used to tell me I worked too hard. The word “work” mostly referred to one or another creative project in addition to my professional job. He was right. I don’t have...

Read More

Our Anniversary, Number 16 and Number 2

Our Anniversary, Number 16 and Number 2

  Friday would have been our 16th wedding anniversary and it’s the 2nd one he’s missed. The last two years I have intentionally been away from home on St. Patrick’s Day. Last year, the kids...

Read More

My Blogiversary

My Blogiversary

This post marks my one-year anniversary as a writer for the Widow’s Voice. 52 weeks of sharing my journey with fellow widowed people and our support networks that follow this blog. There are weeks I...

Read More

March-ing Forth with The Memory Keepers

March-ing Forth with The Memory Keepers

February was a busy time on several fronts. The local Art Gala that had taken months of committee work and preparation for me as an organizer and participating artist was a great success. The hard work,...

Read More

The Art of Celebrating a Life Well-Lived

The Art of Celebrating a Life Well-Lived

Today my late husband Rich will celebrate a birthday in the Afterlife. I don’t know how birthday anniversaries are celebrated in that world, but down here I will be celebrating the occasion in a unique...

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Getting Back

Getting Back

One of the biggest challenges of adjusting to life as a widow is trying to hold on to the memory of the life you had as part of a long-time couple while trying to remember the “Me” before “We”...

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Ruff Times and Holidays

Ruff Times and Holidays

“The presence and companionship of dogs, the observation of their playful tactics has helped patients on their way back to normal thinking and living.” Captain Wm. Lewis Judy,Founder of National...

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Two Additional Years

Two Additional Years

Image by Kristopher Fuller on Unsplash Today I have lived two full years longer than Mike lived. He never quite made 20,000 days, and I am now well over that milestone. I have been lucky to have… 730...

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Some Holidays are Better Than Others

Some Holidays are Better Than Others

One of the most difficult parts of the mourning process many widowed people experience is the loss of future occasions including holidays and anniversaries. We find ourselves listening to long-time married...

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Waters of Significance

Waters of Significance

  In last Saturday’s post, I shared the continuing process of spreading my late husband’s cremains throughout multiple watery locations. Choosing these meaningful places for this journey has been...

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Good Thoughts and Prayers

Good Thoughts and Prayers

I’ve found it difficult to recall the rapidly unfolding events that occurred this week one year ago.  The beautiful fall weather in the South features lack of the nearly year-round humidity. Clear Cerulean...

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The Unconclusive Conclusion

The Unconclusive Conclusion

While writing this blog, I was forced to revisit and relive more than just my widowed walk. I dove back in time through many memories I had forgotten or hidden. In reflecting back, how ironic was it that...

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Take Me to Church

Take Me to Church

Photos my own, taken at the Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Geneva, Switzerland Yesterday, unusually, I went to church. Twice. And I spoke. From the pulpit. Yes – really. I had been invited – some...

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The Widowed Resilience Scale

The Widowed Resilience Scale

Resilience is defined as the ability to ‘bounce back’ or recover from a traumatic life event or circumstance. According to the Holmes and Rahe Social Readjustment Scale widowhood rates as one of life’s most challenging experiences. This fact has driven the desire to study resilience in widowhood and identify the ways in which resilience can be built in men and women who have experienced conjugal loss.

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Featured Author

Meet this weeks Widow's Voice author.

Emma Pearson

Emma Pearson

My life is a whirling mix of swishy strands, dark and glowing brightly, rough and silky smooth – all attempting to be seen, felt and integrated at once. Here are some of my themes.

I am British

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