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 […]
Widowed Milestones
Stressing Again
I was putting my hair up into a ponytail last week and noticed there was a spot that felt almost waxy. The spot was close to the nape of my neck so it took me a minute to process what it could be. Then it hit me. I went straight to a mirror, and it […]
Planting Hope With the Tree of Life
Tuesday, June 30th, would’ve been the 66th birthday of my late sister, Manette. Each year, I recount the story of how my horse-loving sister magically acquired a lovely, but feisty, Arabian Quarter Horse mix in 1973 when my family spent 9 months living in Boulder, Colorado. My essay, The Year of the Dream Horse, a […]
We had the Meats
When Tony died, he left us with a deep freezer full of meat. There were supplies for smoking BBQ, like ribs and pork butts likely purchased on sale. He also had vacuum sealed BBQ he’d already cooked saved for us to reheat later. We had ordered beef and pork from farmers, so there were cuts […]
Tony Trees
In June of 2022, I had two trees planted and I call them my Tony Trees. A group of my sorority sisters had pooled money together so I could have them planted in his honor. It was a time when everyone was looking for a way to help. After sitting on it for a while, […]
I Did a Thing 🫣
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
Alternate Routes
It was an eventful week filled with emotional milestones. I spent most of the week up in Georgia again to ready my home for a new tenant. As I’ve shared previously, I put my house up for sale two months ago and in doing so, invested considerable energy and funds to make it shine. I […]
DeathFest V in Review
A week ago, I hosted a party called DeathFest V (5) to honor the life Tony lived and the person he was. Tony loved revelry with all the people he loved. Even though the party had a dark name, gathering together was at the center of the event. As I built the invite list, I […]
Home Matters
Last week I wrote about my home in Georgia, the one that Rich and I purchased in early 2020. I relayed that I’ve been moving out and away from that haven for about two-and-a-half years now when in the fall of 2023 I acquired on a whim a log home in rural Northeast Florida. Not […]