This Saturday Morning marks the beginning of the Labor Day Weekend which for many brings the unofficial end to Summer 2024 and the official beginning of Local Summer. In places like the Jersey Shore, where I resided happily for many years with my late husband, Rich, this is a very special time of year. With […]
Widowed Milestones
August Slipped Away
A repost! Join me next week to read about this year’s birthday. August has always been such a busy month in our lives. Our entire family’s birthdays. Summer plans, parties, trips…memories. This past month, mostly these past two weeks have been more of a rollercoaster than I remember last year being. This was the first […]
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 […]
“Ruff” Around the Sedges
While August brings the Awareness Observance of Clear the Shelters Month, today, August 17th is “Clear the Shelters Day”. Although it sounds positive, clearing the shelter is a very controversial subject in many dog-rescuing circles. The intent is good; it has been relayed that if only 6 % of the population would adopt their next […]
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 […]
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 […]
Finding Family
Reunions of any kind can stir up all kinds of thoughts and feelings – happiness, nostalgia, a desire to connect, and inevitably sadness due to the fact that reunions can remind us of those who are no longer here with us. My parents met in New Jersey – my mom a coal miner’s daughter […]
Feeling all the Feels
How Grief Impacts Feelings At age 26, I received a helpful definition for feelings. You may be thinking that could be a bit late in life to receive information about something that impacts life on a daily basis and you would be right. Regardless of timing, I gratefully received this definition. “Feelings are spontaneous, inner […]
2800 A Day
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 […]
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. […]