You have to love when a year starts off well. “Well” is a very relative term, of course. What is well for me, may not be well for everyone, universally across the board. But for me, things are going well so far on many fronts. I’m heavy into signs, symbolism, omens and the like. On […]
“Time spent with cats is never wasted.”
Mario and I chose cats over kids. I know full well that furry family members are not the same as kids but when you don’t have kids, you absolutely care about them in the same kind of ways. Without human children in your life, you really focus on the fact that your pets may only […]
Stuck in the Mud
With only 3 days until another year is done, I like to take time to reflect on how the year went overall, as well as things I want to include in the next 12 months. One of the things I’d really like to include is to overcome my own struggle with procrastination. Google’s Bard defines […]
The Holidays
Holiday time is often a real bummer when you’ve lost your spouse. Holidays seem to shine a brighter light on the fact that there is a missing person. When I first met Mario, he had grown to hate Christmas. I think he felt like after his parents divorced, there was just a lot of tension […]
Aging is not for the weak.
I’m an only child. As my parent’s get up into their 80s, it’s just me to look after them. I thought I’d at least have Mario to lean on when the time came when my parents (and his dad for that matter) needed more assistance. But nope, he’s not here to help me deal with […]
Pushing Comfort Zones
Last night I spoke in front of an audience of 50+ people. Public speaking is not my bag. I prefer the least amount of attention rather than a situation where all eyes are on me. I’m a nervous public speaker, even when it’s a topic I know a lot about. There are always some awkward […]
Optimizing
I’m kind of the polar opposite to my departed spouse when it comes to health. Oh sure, I had some “party years” back when I was younger, but by the time I hit 30, I was pretty much over all of that. Looking back, I honestly think that was a healthy approach to do all […]
The inevitable Question.
While the question can take many forms, the topic always revolves around moving on to a new relationship. I’ll preface this post by stating that everyone who has been widowed is unique. Some may want to move on and find someone new, some may not be ready to do that for quite some time, some […]
Balance
There are times when being someone who is very empathic is tough. Over the years, I’ve learned ways to kind of shield myself and my energy if need be, but when there is so much awful in the world happening at one time, it’s difficult. I felt this way during the start of the pandemic […]
The day after.
How many times have you thought back to your “day after”? That day, after your spouse shuffled off their mortal coil and you had to face a whole new life on your own, is not one that’s easily forgotten (even with the passage of time). Every now and then, that first day will pop into […]
Ghost Travels
“Live people ignore the strange and unusual. I myself am strange and unusual.” – Lydia Deetz (Beetlejuice) From a very young age I was always fascinated with the strange and unusual (it’s really no surprise that one of my favorite movies is Beetlejuice). You bet I was watching every “In Search Of…” rerun and begging […]
“These dreams go on when I close my eyes.”
It’s been a week of oddball dreams in which my departed other half has shown up frequently. These particular types of dreams are powered by my subconscious mind, not by supernatural forces. From the surrealistic to the mundane, they take me on a well-trodden path. It’s almost as if my subconscious is experiencing its own […]