Last night, I went to a party at a friend’s house and she had a woman doing henna tattoos there. It’s been ages since I’ve had one, probably 15 years ago in college. As I thumbed through the many designs in her notebook, one caught my eye of a sun and moon. I had her do that design, and add stars. As she worked on painting the delicate lines…
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Talking to Others
I am so f-in tired tire of being apologetic, or maybe, “pre-emptively apologetic” is a better word. It is the act of defending your views before anyone has even tried to refute them. To be pre-emptively apologetic means that I talk about my wife carefully because I fear the comments of others. With Natasha, there was no fear, I could just…
Closer
Lately, Im feeling a strangeness that is stranger than my normal daily strange. I keep finding ways to make you feel closer. Its like, I cant seem to find a way for you to feel close to me, nearby, present, in the way that I want. Maybe it’s because Im in a happy and loving relationship, and Im feeling delayed thoughts of guilt for that. Or…
Numbers and Changing Lives~
Chuck and I sold our home in NJ in May 2009 to go out on the road and travel our country together. No more rat race for us. Just time together. We had just shy of 4 years on the road together. He died April 21, 2013. 11:21 pm is when he took his last breath. In so many ways, I did too. Take my last breath, I mean. My breathing hasn’t been the…
Heads or Tails
It is easy enough for most of us to identify with our own, “widowed” side of the story. We’re the ones left behind when our partner dies. We are all suddenly single parents, sole breadwinners, alone, scared, and confused. It doesn’t matter if we’ve had years to accept the impending death, or minutes. But, what if we were on the other…
The Guessing Game
Sometimes I get tired of playing the guessing game. The guessing game of what really happens after we die. Knowing there is never an answer to the thousands of questions I have, and the only way to actually know for sure, is to die myself. And even then, there is no guarantee I will know what happens after death, because if the answer is…
Time and Wishing~
I’m coming up on 6 years since Chuck died. April 21. It’s weird how my brain works with time regarding his death. For the first 5 years I counted in days and weeks and months. In the last few weeks, I’ve found myself saying almost 6 years. Once April 21 comes…which is my New Year, by the way, instead of January 1, I know I’ll say it’s been over 6…
Coasting
January is when Megan was first diagnosed with chronic organ transplant rejection. February is Shelby’s birthday. May is Mother’s Day, June is when she was admitted to the hospital, never to come home again, July is her birthday, August is our anniversary, September is when the next year of school starts for Shelby, October is my birthday,…
Everything but the Kitchen Sink
As widowed people we do not talk about this enough. When they died, our sex lives died with them. There I said it. Sexual bereavement is a thing. It is very real and it profoundly affects us as we live on without the one we love. Daily, we miss the intimacy of being a couple. And, nothing, not one thing can replace this. The daily…
How I Do Birthdays
So this is how his birthday went this year… I woke up, and actually did not even remember it was his birthday for maybe an hour or two. After I’d dropped the kiddo off at school, I ran to the grocery store for a few things. And that’s when I remembered. Only it didn’t hit me like a ton of bricks. It didn’t stop me in my tracks. It was…
The Changing of the Guards
I did it. Maybe I didn’t outwardly realize I was doing it but I did it. I ignored the rising flood.For the past week I have made myself more and more busy. I have extended myself to help others beyond the norm. I have taken on more responsibility. It all seemed fine and balanced. Late to bed and early to rise with something pressing to think…
Happy? What Does It Mean To Be Happy?
I know what it means to be sad, afraid and angry, but what does it mean to be truly, truly happy? Lately, I find myself feeling more and more bored with life—and it’s not the kind of boredom that comes from depression. It is a very different kind of boredom because it is SO much lighter! It is hard to explain, but it just feels lighter. …