Every once in awhile, I will be going about my day and my life, and then something will happen where it shines a big bright spotlight about all of the loss and all of the things that never happened in my life and all of the ways that I am “different” than my friends. This […]
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Finding Family
Reunions of any kind can stir up all kinds of thoughts and feelings – happiness, nostalgia, a desire to connect, and inevitably sadness due to the fact that reunions can remind us of those who are no longer here with us. My parents met in New Jersey – my mom a coal miner’s daughter […]
Summer Memories
Can’t believe it’s already August as another year seems to be flying by here. August is the county fair month here and it always reminds me how much Mario loved sketchy carnival rides. He kind of had the same approach to those as regular amusement park rides, flying on airplanes, or anything else where the […]
Cat Ladies
A recent Pew poll of people of different ages who don’t have biological children (see https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/07/25/the-experiences-of-u-s-adults-who-dont-have-children/ 7/25/24) suggests this circumstance is more common nowadays than when I came up. I could go into detail trying to explain how my situation evolved, but why bother? Today I am seventy-three years old and don’t plan to become […]
Feeling all the Feels
How Grief Impacts Feelings At age 26, I received a helpful definition for feelings. You may be thinking that could be a bit late in life to receive information about something that impacts life on a daily basis and you would be right. Regardless of timing, I gratefully received this definition. “Feelings are spontaneous, inner […]
Never Alone
I remember my first Camp Widow like it was yesterday. It was around 8 months after Erik had passed. I was sitting on the same couch that I couldn’t seem to move from and had this overwhelming feeling that I was all alone. There wasn’t anyone in my circle that was a widow and at […]
2800 A Day
On July 20th, I walked out of Michele Neff Hernandez’s keynote address at Camp Widow in San Diego to a text message indicating bad news back home. Thankfully, the text indicated my kids were okay. As I rode the escalator to a quieter part of the hotel my mind raced through scenarios of what the […]
The Beginning and the End
Ive always said that every end is another beginning, and every beginning is another end. Usually one happens because of the other, and they sort of blend together. They can both be emotional and scary and often times, when we are going through the end of something, the last thing we want to hear is […]
Camp Widow Confidential
Happy Saturday. As I wasn’t able to attend Camp Widow in San Diego this year, I asked Margie Perez, a four-time Camp Widow ambassador to share her experience there. I met Margie on my first day at Camp Widow San Diego last year. I liked her positive and outgoing approach and her sense of humor. […]
Rest
It’s been a tough few weeks and I’ve had a lot to do. I feel like I’ve been in constant motion. And I’ve still not readjusted my schedule after the few nights staying up all night at the hospital while my dad was there. And I’ve still not gotten much more than 5-6 hours of […]
Lola the Wonder Dog
My first contribution to this blog, entitled “Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself” (Feb. 4, 2021), concludes: “So I was left to ponder the BIG QUESTIONS: Am I destined to die alone? Why shouldn’t I get a dog?” *** The first question remains wide open. As for the second, well, I got the dog and […]
Camp Widow:
A Fine Champagne On the Move A mere 77,999 days ago a widow changed the face of widowhood. Madame Clicquot, known as the “Grande Dame of Champagne” was a French Champagne producer. She took on her husband’s wine business when widowed at 27. Under her ownership, and her skill with wine, the company developed early […]