In processing grief, I often hear people use the term, “Moving On”. But, most who are recovering from the trauma of losing a loved one prefer “Moving Forward”. Some might ask, “What’s the difference?” If you Move On, the implication is that we’ve left something behind; forgetting, or letting go of, some place, or somebody, […]
Widowed Emotions
Progress Not Perfection
In Life and In Widow-Dog Training PART three Last night, I took this picture of Indy as she watched over her territory. This morning, she moved into action mode over the dangerous action of me looking out the window! A light yellow flash of 70 pounds of athletic animal leaping through the doggie door; […]
Forever 32
I found myself lying wide awake at 10:49 the Monday night before my birthday wishing that midnight just wouldn’t come. And that if it did, that my birthday wish would come true. That when that clock struck 12, I would find myself back in 2022 before what would become the worst day of our lives. […]
Choices and Adjustments
HI Friends. I feel like a broken record, but once again my apologies for not posting in here the last couple weeks. I really don’t completely forget on purpose. Its just that the last few weeks have been INCREDIBLY STRESSFUL and chaotic and soooo busy with moving, packing, getting into my new apartment, then unpacking, […]
Recalling The Jersey Shore
This Saturday Morning marks the beginning of the Labor Day Weekend which for many brings the unofficial end to Summer 2024 and the official beginning of Local Summer. In places like the Jersey Shore, where I resided happily for many years with my late husband, Rich, this is a very special time of year. With […]
Labs and Wolves:
PART two We all come from somewhere, right? When I got an adorable puppy, a Labrador Dog, apparently I also got a Labrador Wolf. The tiny face looking up at me with innocent eyes evolved from a sobering game of stayin’ alive: the message from her wolf forbears. Becoming a kick-ass Lab is in […]
August Slipped Away
A repost! Join me next week to read about this year’s birthday. August has always been such a busy month in our lives. Our entire family’s birthdays. Summer plans, parties, trips…memories. This past month, mostly these past two weeks have been more of a rollercoaster than I remember last year being. This was the first […]
My Fourth Camp Widow
It’s been over a month since I was in San Diego for Camp Widow. Somehow in the whirlwind of the last five weeks I haven’t written much about that experience. This was my fourth camp, but it had a different feel to it for me for a few reasons. A few of my staple Camp […]
Forward Facing Dogs
Yesterday, August 23rd, the Awareness Observation of International Blind Dog Day took place, a day to recognize the resilience, adaptability, and courage of blind dogs and to promote empathy and understanding for dogs with vision challenges. Established by Sarah Horne in 2017, this day also endeavors to, “Highlight the struggles that blind dogs face and […]
Bringing Up Indy:
One Widow and Her Lab PART One Background noise at my house includes scratching, licking, and the occasional squeak of a dog toy. A quiet warning growl followed by an alarmed leap of dog-body in my peripheral vision. A light yellow flash of 70 pounds of athletic animal leaping through the doggie door; flying full […]
Frozen in Age
Earlier this week a few of my cousins had texted me about my birthday plans. I had completely forgotten that my birthday was coming up. I had been so focused on the twins and Erik’s birthday that I had forgotten that mine was the same month. Since Erik’s passing, I haven’t really been into celebrating […]
Community Grief
Content Warning: Child loss and suicide Today my heart broke. A family in my community lost their high school aged son to suicide. Details were sparse, but I knew a boy had died and he was about the same age as one of my sons. I sat with the knowledge quietly, as my head […]