• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Widow's Voice

Widow's Voice

  • Soaring Spirits
  • Donate
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Categories
  • Authors
    • Kelley Lynn
    • Emily Vielhauer
    • Emma Pearson
    • Kathie Neff
    • Gary Ravitz
    • Victoria Helmly
    • Lisa Begin-Kruysman

Gary Ravitz

About Gary Ravitz

In relevant part, my musings are for me. It’s one of the ways in which I process losing my sweetest. Of course, Lee didn’t want to die. She had fought like hell, but the relentless cancers kept coming: Skin cancers; breast cancer; head and neck cancer; colon cancer; and finally, the deadly pancreatic cancer. In June 2020, and only after being pressed hard by Lee, her oncologist opined that my wife had from two weeks to two months left to live, turned on her heels and nearly sprinted from the hospital room, never again to be seen or heard from by us. I promptly removed Lee from the hospital and brought her home. It was the right thing to do and I only wish I had acted sooner over “the best” medical advice to the contrary. In fact, my sweet wife only had nine days left to live. At the final, she embraced her own death with great courage and unfailing kindness. It was a truly remarkable display of grace and wondrous to behold. It was my great privilege and honor to be with her every step of the way. And now, it’s my privilege to be able to write a few words to you each week. In a nutshell, I believe every journey is unique, but, hopefully, to know that you do not have to walk it alone can also be reassuring. And, along the way, you might hear a bit more information about me.
Gary

Not Quite Arrived

Posted on: February 2, 2023 | Posted by: Gary Ravitz

By the time I exit the State of Missouri I’ve come to appreciate John Steinbeck’s astute observation, based on his own travels, that our country’s interstate highway system may be a fine solution for moving goods but it’s a lousy way to take in the countryside. Just past Joplin, Missouri, Interstate 40 crosses into the […]

Categories: Widowed and Healing, Miscellaneous, Uncategorized

On the Road

Posted on: January 26, 2023 | Posted by: Gary Ravitz

I had intended to publish last Thursday, as usual, but then experienced technical issues. Such are the vagaries of being off on the road. As you can see, I’m back online today and anxious to make up for lost time. *** After a wonderful extended visit with Robyn, we went our separate ways before dawn […]

Categories: Widowed and Healing, Miscellaneous, Uncategorized

Countdown

Posted on: January 12, 2023 | Posted by: Gary Ravitz

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 coffee mountains of Boquete; or, to awaken at dawn in the Osa to the calls of the howlers […]

Categories: Widowed and Healing, Widowed and New Love, Miscellaneous, Uncategorized

Comfort Food

Posted on: January 5, 2023 | Posted by: Gary Ravitz

First, there was his text wishing me a happy new year, then a call.  My nephew Kevin said he wanted to get together for dinner. He wondered if I would be interested dining at a dismal Chinese restaurant located in a suburban strip mall where his grandfather –my dad—liked to go for family occasions.  I […]

Categories: Widowed Memories, Uncategorized

On Becoming a Sentimental Slob

Posted on: December 29, 2022 | Posted by: Gary Ravitz

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 upon learning the news of her death earlier that day. I was eight years […]

Categories: Widowed Holidays, Widowed Emotions, Uncategorized

Filling in the Gaps

Posted on: December 22, 2022 | Posted by: Gary Ravitz

We buried my sister this past Monday.  The rabbi who performed her service never met her in life.  Nonetheless, based on anecdotal evidence she acquired from my sister’s two sons, her husband and myself, I thought she performed admirably and on short notice. I was struck by how each of us recalled her in our […]

Categories: Widowed Community, Uncategorized

Sad December

Posted on: December 15, 2022 | Posted by: Gary Ravitz

December can be a rough month.  December 8 marks the death of my mother.  December 12 marked my dad’s birthday, but he is gone, too. Today, I’ve just learned that my sister, Lorrie, who had been ill for a long time, passed quietly this morning around 3:30 a.m. God bless you, sis.  

Categories: Miscellaneous

A Holiday Dinner Party

Posted on: December 8, 2022 | Posted by: Gary Ravitz

Before Lee died, she had told Amy, her good friend, that she regretted her death was going to seriously challenge my well-being. Of course, Lee was right. Amy had shared this conversation with me in the context of another conversation Amy and I had some months later when I told her I was thinking about […]

Categories: Widowed and Healing, Widowed Holidays

Thanksgiving Remembrance (Revisited)

Posted on: December 1, 2022 | Posted by: Gary Ravitz

[Today I’m revisiting an article published around this same time last year.] Going back to the start of 2021, I have been volunteering my time on Thursdays at a local food pantry that serves our community. I am off today, however, because we are closed on Thanksgiving, which seems more than a bit ironic given […]

Categories: Uncategorized

Event Horizon

Posted on: November 24, 2022 | Posted by: Gary Ravitz

My nephew Kevin has two kids, eleven-year-old Alyssa, and her twelve-year-old brother Nathan.  For reasons I’ve never understood, a few years ago Alyysa decided that she was going to adopt a new first name. Today “Alex” is the only moniker that she will answer to. Not to be outdone, Nathan thereafter abandoned his given name […]

Categories: Widowed Without Children, Uncategorized

A New Leaf

Posted on: November 17, 2022 | Posted by: Gary Ravitz

Robyn and I were planning a weekend trip to visit my old and dear friends, Craig and Donna, whom I’ve mentioned here multiple times Robyn made this trip with me once previously. She is a good sport about such things. In any case, a few days before our departure Craig called to tell me that […]

Categories: Uncategorized

Young Woman Seeks Friend

Posted on: November 10, 2022 | Posted by: Gary Ravitz

My friend’s daughter called this past week. I have known the young woman her whole life. Our connection runs deep. As with several other of my closest friends’ children, I’m the avuncular outsider. Within her own family, my friend’s daughter has long been its most sensible and grounded member. As a measure of family dysfunction, […]

Categories: Miscellaneous, Uncategorized

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 9
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

  • Authors
    • Kelley Lynn
    • Emily Vielhauer
    • Emma Pearson
    • Kathie Neff
    • Gary Ravitz
    • Victoria Helmly
    • Lisa Begin-Kruysman

Footer

Quick Links

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Categories
  • Authors

SSI Network

  • Soaring Spirits International
  • Camp Widow
  • Resilience Center
  • Widowed Village
  • Widowed Pen Pal Program
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Contact Info

Soaring Spirits International
2828 Cochran St. #194
Simi Valley, CA 93065

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 877-671-4071

Soaring Spirits International is a 501(c)3 Corporation EIN#: 38-3787893. Soaring Spirits International provides resources with no endorsement implied.

Copyright © 2023 Widow's Voice. All Rights Reserved.