Said no widowed parent ever!!! 😂 This week I am traveling with our kids for their spring break…🛫 Ay Dios mío!!! I’m super nervexcited! 🚘 I will report back after the trip with our teenage boy and teenage girl, doing things they have never done before. 🚵🏼♀️ Like hiking a lot, hiking inside a river […]
Widowed by Illness
Identity Theft 🪪
Victim of Identity Theft 👤 Not the kind where creeps take your Social Security number, name and address and try to impersonate you with American Express 💳. But the kind that happens after your person dies. The kind that strips you of everything that made you, you. I have a feeling you know where I’m […]
Still Some Cocooning
It was a busy week (for me) but I survived it. Cocooning still feels more comfortable and safe, but I know it’s important to get back out there socially so I’m trying. Thursday I enjoyed catching up with my old co-workers after so long … I should say ‘former’ not ‘old’ since I do believe […]
JOKE IS ON YOU! 🤣
APRIL FOOL’S DAY Laughter is medicine for the soul, they say. Humor is the “glue” that holds a relationship together, they say. But DARK humor? It can become a survival tool too, baby! I say. I am willing to bet my tax refund 💵 to say that one doesn’t truly know dark humor until you lose […]
How Different Grief Is
So last Saturday I was running an errand for my mom when I saw a flyer for a small Psychic Fair at a book store not far away from where I was. I detoured to check it out. There were various psychics in attendance, most of them reading tarot cards. While I am a believer […]
Scrambled Thoughts 🍳 with a Side of Trauma.
⌛️ It has been 842 days, 13 hours, and 41 minutes. Roughly 2 years, 3 months, and 22 days. But the trauma, the slow agonizing torture, started for me more than five years ago with his terminal brain cancer diagnosis. It blindsided us. If your person was ill for a while, you know what I […]
I’ve Gone Dark.
This week I am in it. 😔 In a funk. The kind you can’t pinpoint to one single thing, just a mix of little and big things that make life feel so heavy and unfair all over again. It feels like a grief hangover. The kind that wants to keep you in bed for days […]
Hi, My Name is Liliana…
THE MORNING I WALKED INTO A GRIEF SUPPORT GROUP I sat there, in my car, for what felt like an eternity. It was a cold, overcast Thursday morning in mid-February 2024, just like in the movies. I drove one hour to a city in Virginia to attend a Loss of Spouse Grief Share support Group, […]
What’s My Purpose?
I try to use the first month of a new year to take a good look at my life … do some deep diving, reviewing, thinking, planning. What’s working well? What do I need to change? What new things do I want to try? What do I need to leave behind? What mistakes have I […]
Aloneness … Loneliness, Solitude or Isolation?
Aloneness – I had not heard this word until after I was widowed. It feels bigger than loneliness, more all encompassing. It felt right for me back in 2010 and feels right for me now. I do know I can be happy living alone … it took awhile but I eventually found it after Vern […]
Am I Still Considered ‘Newly Widowed’ …
… since this is the second time I’ve lost my husband? I actually hadn’t thought about giving myself that label until someone suggested it. But Jim died just 9 weeks ago – so, of course, I am newly widowed. Since I went through all of this 15 years ago, perhaps I’m better prepared this time. […]
Two Times …
I lost my husband 15 years ago. I lost my husband 8 weeks ago. Yes, both of those statements are true. Twice widowed. Not something most of us would choose willingly, is it? But I did. I was quite vocal about never dating after Vern died. I wrote about it in my blog, I shared […]