On July 20th, I walked out of Michele Neff Hernandez’s keynote address at Camp Widow in San Diego to a text message indicating bad news back home. Thankfully, the text indicated my kids were okay. As I rode the escalator to a quieter part of the hotel my mind raced through scenarios of what the […]
Widowed Emotions
Camp Widow Confidential
Happy Saturday. As I wasn’t able to attend Camp Widow in San Diego this year, I asked Margie Perez, a four-time Camp Widow ambassador to share her experience there. I met Margie on my first day at Camp Widow San Diego last year. I liked her positive and outgoing approach and her sense of humor. […]
Rest
It’s been a tough few weeks and I’ve had a lot to do. I feel like I’ve been in constant motion. And I’ve still not readjusted my schedule after the few nights staying up all night at the hospital while my dad was there. And I’ve still not gotten much more than 5-6 hours of […]
Camp Widow:
A Fine Champagne On the Move A mere 77,999 days ago a widow changed the face of widowhood. Madame Clicquot, known as the “Grande Dame of Champagne” was a French Champagne producer. She took on her husband’s wine business when widowed at 27. Under her ownership, and her skill with wine, the company developed early […]
How Are You Doing?
A repost! Join me next week to read all about Camp Widow San Diego 2024! This past weekend someone had asked me how I was doing. This question is one of those common questions you get in conversations and is usually followed by just a casual response of either ‘I’m good’ or ‘I’m fine’ and […]
Life-Changing Paths
Each time Friday rolls around I’m stunned. The other day I posted that it was Thursday until someone reminded me that it was actually Wednesday! I guess that’s a good thing – to be so absorbed in daily life activities that one is no longer fixated on days, nights, hours, minutes. That’s a gift, I […]
The Gift of Camp Widow
in San Diego once again! The first Camp Widow showed up as “The First Annual National Conference on Widowhood.” Take a moment and consider that we’re celebrating the 16th year of Camp Widow this coming weekend. Many more than sixteen camps have endured. Add to that Canada and Australia—Wow! All major accomplishments that started […]
Insignificant, Yet Significant
There are just some things that I can’t seem to part with. For the past three weeks, I have been trying to get rid of a set of bath towels that the twins have been using. It has definitely seen some better days. For some reason, I just can’t seem to say goodbye to something […]
Four Words
It’s time for me to prep for Camp Widow in San Diego this week. There are lots of tasks to get myself ready to be away from home for almost 5 days. Packing myself, scheduling the kids with grandparents, lining out their schedules, the list goes on. Last week, I received a survey from Soaring […]
Ruff Musings From the “Homefront”
I am sitting here writing in the moment as the week sort of sped by and I realized last night I had not prepped or drafted a post for today. Monday started with an interesting phone consult with a Literary Agent in New York City about my memoir that is continually in progress. If […]
One of Us
At 4:17am on July 9th, my mom became one of us. My dad succumbed to the traumatic brain injury sustained in the wreck on June 30th. They were married for 65 years. They got on each others nerves at points, but stuck it out together till death did they part. It’s a good thing I’m […]
July Blues
Just like clockwork, another July rolls around. As each year passes, the important dates seem to hold more value as we get further from when Erik was here. July holds so much significance for us. July 2nd of the year Erik passed was supposed to be our “Christmas in July” vow renewal. These important dates […]