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 […]
Widowed Emotions
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 […]
Time Flies
I’m not sure when exactly it happened but something transpired in my life to make it seem like time itself was going faster. I know it’s some trick of the mind or perception, but it was probably sometime after the age of 40 where it just seemed like every time I turned around it was […]
Some Days Are Worse Than Others
Just ask Alexander! A boy named Alexander had a lot to say about this: I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning, I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while […]
Birthday Blues
The twins and Erik’s birthday was this past weekend. Yes, all three of them have the exact same birthday. Leading up to this weekend has always been hard for me since Erik’s passing. I wanted so badly to be happy because it was my babies’ birthday, but trying to balance that of deep sadness that […]
Staying Busy
The last few years I’ve kept us extremely busy. Hey, at least I’m self-aware! Some of it is the stage of life I’m in with the kids. During the school year, the weekends and evenings are filled with homework, sports, and the various social functions that come with parenting school aged children. There are some […]
Raft Years
This past week marked an important milestone in my widowed process. It was a year ago on a hot August day, with only Quint by my side, that I made an appointment with a realtor to look at three properties in a small rural town in the Lake District of Central Florida two hours south […]
Camp Widow 2.0
We’re Hitting the Road! If you are brand new here you might be asking What is Camp Widow? “Camp Widow blends elements of three event styles: a conference format, an inspiring retreat, a reunion with great friends.” Soaring Spirits Loss Foundation My path to Camp Widow was immediate and logical. As a long-time […]
Well, my Daddy is Dead.
Yesterday Charlotte took me by surprise. As we were getting ready for a birthday party I had said something to her about pooping and out of nowhere and just randomly she responds to me by saying, “Well, my daddy is dead”. It stopped me right in my tracks. First, anytime I hear Daddy in our […]