It’s hard to believe that this will be my 21st Post for Widow’s Voice. Almost half a year of posting now. People ask if it’s hard to conjure up something new to write about each week. Sometimes it’s a bit challenging. Lot’s of energy goes in to a post. Usually I have an idea or […]
Widowed and Healing
The Adventure Is Now Officially Underway
Lola and I check into our Las Cruces accommodations. One more night of transience before we can settle into our Winter quarters. Right now, however, I need a respite from the road. Lola and I stretch our legs by walking around the motel grounds. I take a comforting and hot shower, change clothes and take […]
A Love Letter
After Valentine’s Day Hey love, I made it through another valentines day — so well, in fact, that I forgot it was Wednesday and I’m just writing this! Writing to you is always easier than writing to others, so here we are, my love, conversing online on the day after Valentine’s Day. Through the lens […]
Happily Paired, or “Quirkyalone”, Happy Valentines Day
Last Saturday, I was fortunate to join other local artists for an art gala in my local community. It had been many years since I’d exhibited at or had been involved in the organization of such an event. Congratulations to the members of the Osprey Cove Women’s Club, my fellow committee members and the supportive […]
Discovering A Land of Enchantment
I know that today’s target, Amarillo, Texas, is the largest town in the Texas Panhandle. I have two local points of interest in mind when I visit it. One is known as the Second Amendment Cowboy, an enormous cowboy figure, whose original mission was hawking car mufflers. Although he neither packs a pistol nor wears […]
Valentines, Valentines, Valentines Everywhere . . .
. . . it’s here again In trying to take stock of Valentine’s Day past, memory is fuzzy. Images come forward of our last V-Day together… Family room with hospital bed set up Candles Decorative hearts abound Did we eat? It seems a blip on the radar screen of a long goodbye with no clear […]
Choosing Life – A Love Letter to Julia from Paula
Photo of Paula & Julia by a school friend I wake up to a firm ray of sunlight bursting through my dormitory window on July 2nd, 2019. I can’t wait to finally see my family after what feels like years. Suddenly, an inexplicable feeling of heaviness fills my chest, making it hard to get out […]
Recognized
When something tragic happens, everyone seems to know about it. You expect your core and extended people to know your story. I often forget how far-reaching bad news can be. How, in the age of social media and the internet it doesn’t take long for news to spread. It spreads far beyond what we even […]
Not Quite Arrived
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 […]
What does hope look like for me now?
Image by precious widbud Charlotte MacNaughton – Yellowknife, Canada’s Northwest Territories (Jan 2023) Way back when, back in my life before, and soon after I had started up my business, Kaleidoscope Development, I wrote a blogpost on “Hope”. It was 21st April 2014. I actually called it, “Hope – Part One”, and a week later, […]
Getting Back
One of the biggest challenges of adjusting to life as a widow is trying to hold on to the memory of the life you had as part of a long-time couple while trying to remember the “Me” before “We”. In my case, recalling the latter is tied closely to the former. Last week I started […]
Joshua Tree
This month I embarked on a solo trip for fun to Los Angeles and Palm Springs. I have done this once before. In 2019, before I started my Ph.D. program I went to Puerto Rico by myself. It was freeing and exciting, but there were lonely parts and times when I wished I had someone […]