This week I’m not feeling inspired by anything from the last week to write about. My heart and mind are with an old friend of mine that has a very sick kid. After sitting in front of the computer for over an hour with a blank page, I went back to my posts from last […]
Widowed Emotions
I Demand a Full Refund 💵
I Did Not Order This Life 📦 Nope! not even by mistake. I want my old life back. Week started as a downer for all three of us, each for different reasons. Our daughter was devastated because she finally landed a gymnastics skill she’d been working on for months. But when she tried it again […]
Aging Gracefully … and Wisely
When I lost Vern I was 59. I felt young – even though a young widowed group on Facebook told me otherwise when they declined my request to join them (55 was their limit). Ouch. Back then the thought of facing 30 years alone was daunting. How would I manage it? Would I have to […]
Death Flowers
Last weekend I drove four hours to spend the weekend with my best friend. It wasn’t a social call; I was there to support her and her family through her mother’s funeral. At the end of the service, the funeral home offered to bring the flowers to my friend’s home the next day. We had […]
Compassion Burnout and Enduring Hope
For the past 15 years I’ve blogged and authored books on the topic of the positive effects of the dog-human relationship. My dog Quint came into my life just seven weeks after my late husband’s passing and has been my quintessential companion since the earliest days of my loss. It’s hard to believe that Quint’s […]
From the Battlefield 🇺🇸
Since the end of the school year, in the third week of June, our 17-year-old boy had been itching to get out of town on a day trip or road trip, but we had all been way too tired… until now. Specifically, he wanted to go to Gettysburg, PA, to a tiny but […]
Saying Goodbye
Well … I must say that I’m quite happy that June is in my rearview mirror. And it occurred to me that perhaps there might have been a subliminal reason for why I was sick for nearly that whole month. Jim’s Celebration of Life was held in June No – I wasn’t invited No […]
Futbol Fever
Tonight the US men’s team lost their run for the World Cup. It’s disappointing but I’m not crushed. Historically, Tony and I had never been huge soccer fans. This year, I live in one of the World Cup host cities. So, I decided to lean in and embrace what may be opportunities that present themselves […]
Happy Re-New Year
Good morning. Here I am again writing on a Saturday that happens to be a major American holiday; this one celebrating the 250th anniversary of the USA. As many of us who are widowed know, weekends coinciding with holidays can often prove to be draining instead of festive; delivering a double emotional whammy. I still […]
Numbers, yet again.
You know how people ask, “Is Mercury in retrograde?” when everything seems to be going wrong? Funny thing about that is I was actually born during a Mercury retrograde and my theory is that when it happens, it doesn’t affect me the same way because I came into existence during it (or perhaps I really […]
Boundaries? What’s That? 😫
Hola, fellow grieving friends. First and, of obvious utmost importance, 🇲🇽 Mexico’ soccer team made it to the Octavos de Final in the World Cup ⚽️ yesterday and now I’m thinking we could actually win this thing 🏆!!! Ok, maybe not. Most likely not, but still, it is really fun to dream! Ok. This past week […]
Don’t Let the Hard Days Win
I fully expected to be able to write today and share the excursions Sheila and I have taken this week. Instead, my only excursions have been to doctor offices. I am so tired of this. I’m grateful that I’ve been pretty darn healthy most of my 75 years (in spite of my poor eating habits […]