This is my last year having a kid in elementary school. Preparations have already begun for the year end celebration at the school. Our school hosts what they call the Fifth Grade Farewell. It’s a day of fun games and activities for the kids. At the end of the day, the kids, their teachers, and […]
Widowed Community
Why I Return
to the Work of Grieving Grief work feels overwhelming. It takes courage to step toward the work with all the feelings in the way. Sadness that our person is not there. The strange dance of feeling hope and then feeling hopeless. I’m almost 4 years in now and I think the overwhelm is a normal […]
The One and the Many
Tai Chi and Widowhood The year twenty twenty-five is the year of Tai Chi for me. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10am, my friend and I step into a room with about twenty other seniors and follow the instructors as they lead us through a half-hour practice of Tai Chi. Classes are about 10 […]
What is Story?
How does story impact grief? The personal narrative of our life, often called Our Story, belongs to only us. Others may have shared life with us, but our perspective and interpretation is ours alone. We humans are meaning-makers and our mind is geared to make conclusions about the problems, pleasures, and predicaments we face over […]
Weather Delays
I’m sorry, I missed my post last week. The kids and I traveled over the holiday break. We were supposed to be home Saturday night. As luck would have it, there was also ice and snow headed to our hometown Saturday. A few days earlier I moved our flight time up a few hours to […]
Forgetting on Christmas
Bullet Points . . . My apologies for nearly missing my post this week. Here are my bullet points about how I find myself in the predicament of forgetting to show up on Widow’s Voice this week: Bullet points keep me ahead of sleep who stalks me. It is 10:42 pm PDT and I just […]
Christmas Superheroes
Today is Christmas Eve Eve. As a solo parent, who is prone to overprogramming there is so much to do with so little time. I found myself trying to do it all today. I wrapped up work for the holidays, grabbed last minute stocking candy, cleaned the house, cooked dinner, packed the kids for Christmas, […]
Three Widows and Grief
One of us was working too hard. The other was wobbling on the ladder of memories on her death-a-versary. Each of us with our long list of widow-worries and widowed woes showed up to help the other. Being together was unplanned. Beyond what one might expect, being together brought […]
The Wonder of a Camp for Widowed People
Images of Past and Future Dear Widowed Peeps! Wednesday snuck up on me, so I am reposting a blog about attending my first Camp Widow, in correlation with a Camp Widow happening in this very moment, and throughout the weekend, in Toronto, Canada. The Camp Widow experience features the essence of the support offered to […]
Exploring What Might Help
Today I wish to offer three simple tools to help those of us who are having an especially “off” day. Three fresh ideas or strategies for your back pocket at the ready in advance of your need. Difficult days arrive out of nowhere for new widowed people, or long-time widowed people. […]
Camp Widow Serendipity in 2025
… two stories, one in process. … a story from 2023. Two widows, two rocks, two husbands—integrity twice remembered. It was September of 2022 in Denver at the local community college. A widow, finding no […]
Good Medicine for the Widowed:
The Intentional Community of Soaring Spirits One of the best medicines for widowed people is other widowed people. In Soaring Spirits we have access to Regional Social Groups! These groups exist across the country and Internationally in Bermuda, Dublin, and York/North Yorkshire. Every group looks, and functions, in their own unique way. We have park […]