Tuesday 5.26.26 🗓️ I went on my first date since my husband died. It came with all of it. All the feelings. I was really excited and proud of myself for choosing to do it and heartbroken all over again that I had to. It was coffee with a tall and handsome guy who approached […]
Widowed Emotions
Permission to Live
You know I’ve been through all of this before … nearly 16 years ago. The years of heavy caregiving leading to the loss of my love, the emotions, the disappointments, the sadness, the loneliness, the missing. The grief. And now all of that is on repeat. 8 months out. Some think this should be […]
Success Isn’t Final
Last week I got to take an all-day class on hand lettering. The session is meant as a way to get in touch with your creative side. I knew when I saw the class description it was one I wanted to take. During the wedding years of my 20s, I addressed my own and wedding […]
A Gift of an Unlikely Place
I know it’s a good “problem” to have, but maintaining three homes and four dogs can put a nice hurtin’ on the balances of ‘ye old credit cards. When I got a nice offer from a credit card company recently with a no interest balance transfer for 18 billing cycles I was all in. After several […]
Repeat After Me…👩🏻🏫
I’m a Bad🤨$$, you’re a Bad🤨$$, we are ALL Bad🤨$$es!!! The past few weeks have left me exhausted and depleted, once again. Yes, there has been some joy and fun, but between planning my daughter’s 13th birthday party, surviving another Mother’s Day, my daughter’s trip to Puerto Rico, and a few other energy-consuming events, this Memorial […]
Memories … I have a few
“Separation is an illusion. Though your loved ones are not physically with you, they are with you spiritually and energetically. They live in you and through you. They are ever with you, as close as your breath. When you are overwhelmed with missing their ‘form’, remember that their essence is woven into the fabric of […]
Milestones and Memories
Memorial Day marks the official start of summer here. The kids had their last day of school last week. I now have a senior, a freshman, and a seventh grader. Watching the kids grow is a milestone against which I sometimes compare the passage of time since Tony’s death. It’s already mind bending to realize […]
A Meaningful Memorial Day to All
Weekends are often difficult and long for widowed people, and holiday weekends are especially challenging. So many of us have distant, and not so distant, memories of holidays gone by. For me, the Memorial Day Weekend holds many. Places like the New Jersey Shore, embrace the unofficial beginning of the summer season even though summer […]
The Regalos 💝 of Grief
I am not going to lie, this one is a tough one for me to write, like I really had to think about it long and hard. Before the massive earthquake that decimated my life, AKA the death of my husband, I was the eternal optimist, the happy-go-lucky (most times 😆), borderline toxically positive person, […]
It Is What It Is
To honor the strength it takes to face what we did not choose—and to recognize the quiet courage within ourselves and others that rises up to meet it. Oprah Daily Intention, April 4, 2026 I survived ‘the visit’ just fine (reference last week’s post). As usual, my thoughts and fears beforehand were far […]
A Dating Methodology
Over the last few years, I’ve dated on and off. I’ve primarily used dating apps because I don’t find myself ‘in the wild’ where there are other single people. Dating as a widow, after a marriage I was happy in has been a challenge. While I can feel broken and discombobulated, I also know what […]
Once Upon a Time…👑
…In a Far, Far Away Kingdom 👸🏻 In the kingdom of a city in the USA, there lived a beautiful, brave, brave princess. She had just entered teenagehood, and she lived with her loving parents, the King and Queen, her older brother, the Prince, and the royal pet, June, the collie-lab mix. They lived a […]