Lately, for some reason, I’ve been especially nostalgic for my home state of New Jersey. Maybe it’s the news coverage and all the dire forecasts of the meterologists that have that state, and many others, under warnings for a storm of historic proportions currently spreading across the nation and set to paralyze normal life this […]
Miscellaneous
“I shouldn’t do it but I do it anyway.”
Everyone’s got an, I know I shouldn’t do it but I do it anyway. For me, it’s staying up late. From what I can remember this all started when I was pretty young. I would give my parents fits over wanting to stay up way past my bedtime. I would come up with creative ways […]
Welcome To My Museum of Stuff
During the second week of January, I found myself returning to the home in Georgia that my late-husband Rich and I purchased six years ago. There, I continued to curate what I call the My Museum of Stuff, a third garage where a collection of family nostalgia and items that belonged to Rich are stored. […]
Unexpected Havens
Writing this in Real Time early New Year’s Day. At precisely 12:01am, I experienced a deep sense of relief that 2025 had concluded softly without the loss of an immediate family member. I lost Rich in late 2021, my nephew who was the son of my late sister in May 2022 and my father and […]
Turning the Page on Another Year
I’m writing this on New Year’s Day, 2026. I’m honestly really glad to bid farewell to 2025. And for the first time in probably 10 or more years I actually did something with a few friends for New Year’s Eve. I fired up my two old Technics SL-1200 DJ turntables and played some old techno […]
Every Day is a Holiday
There are literally 45 minutes remaining in Christmas Day 2025 as I begin to write this post. Having just spent time on a variety of sites for the widowed on Social Media, many commenters were counting down the minutes and hours for the day to be over. Many more relayed how they’d dreaded the days […]
Holiday Adaptations
This week I spent some time in my former residence in St. Marys, Georgia. With its recent tenants moved out, I haven’t spent much time in that house for the last two years. With a new development currently being constructed literally in my own backyard, the woods that once lined that property have been replaced […]
The Joys of Home Ownership
Mario and I purchased our house (I’ll probably always call it “our” house) back in 2007. After looking at many different houses, this one stood out and we made an offer as soon as we saw it. Through a series of “perfect timing” type of events, we closed on the house within 30 days. I […]
On the Scent of Home
Four years ago December 9th, I adopted an adorable Maltese-mix puppy out in San Diego. I’ve written before about Quint’s arrival in my life just seven weeks after Rich’s passing. Quint, named for Robert Shaw’s character in JAWS, began his life on the very same day Rich entered the ICU beginning what would become the […]
Volunteering
How many of the widowed folks out there keep in contact with their spouse’s relatives? Mario’s mom passed away in 2007 and his grandparents also passed after we’d made the move up to Oregon, but he kept in touch with his aunt (his mom’s sister) and cousin who also ended up in Oregon as well […]
Points in Time
Once again, I’ve been thinking bout the past. I know everyone always says, the past is the past, and I get that, but the past has also made me what I am today. Everything I’ve ever done has led right to this moment in time. Sometimes, it’s only through looking back, that you have realizations […]
Passing Holiday Milestones to Better Days Ahead
Just a few days ago, an archived Facebook photo from 2021 that I’d posted the Thanksgiving weekend four weeks after Rich’s passing, appeared in my Feed. At that time, my elderly mother had come to stay with me and although I truly wasn’t into holiday decorating, for her sake, I did. That memory made […]