My cousin asked me once, “Why are you always so happy?” Imagine – a widow being asked that! And, this was shortly after my Mom had passed away. My response to her, without thinking, was “Because all the worst things that can happen have already happened…” She didn’t quite know what to make of it, […]
Widowed
Learning to Be By Yourself
I think this topic hits everyone who finds themselves in the widow club a little differently. I would imagine, widowed folks who have kids at home prioritize their kids and that probably acts as a delayed buffer for emotions related to suddenly being spouse-less. Many of the widows in my in-person group were married for […]
Happy National Black Dog Day! 🐕🦺
I am still not sure how we got so lucky. She came to us two days before our lives were forever changed, and I KNOW she is an angel in a dog’s body. Don’t ask me how I know this -because I don’t know- but tomorrow Thursday is National Black Dog Day. So this beauty […]
Thank You, Calgary
What a perfect place for me to be during this hard week of loss and memories … a beautiful park just a few blocks from my hotel, those incredibly beautiful lakes in and around the Banff National Forest, reconnecting and meeting in person some of the widowed friends I met online back in 2020 during […]
Missing Him Until My End- A Repost
Happy Monday. Emily is off with her widow crew and I hope they are having a wonderful time together, enjoying their connection and being in community. I have always loved this piece she wrote so I am sharing it with you today in her absence. ~Mary Moore Hughes We grieve because we love and […]
The Power of Keeping Our Memories
I recently watched the movie, “Forgotten Island!” I have been waiting all year to watch this!!! Forgotten Island is a Dreamworks animated movie set in the Philippines about two friends who travel to a mystical island, and encounter our culture’s mythological creatures – many of whom I have been told stories about since I was […]
Living with Ghosts
While I’m a firm believer that when we shuffle off our mortal coil, our consciousness and, for lack of a better term, our soul, may continue in some way, this post isn’t really going to talk about ghosts in a paranormal sense but ramble about other types of “ghosts”. You see, there is another way […]
Trigger Warning ⚠️
Well, I survived Back to School Night last week. Barely. Last Thursday, after emerging from yet another funk, I showered and got ready for public consumption to go to this thing. I somehow got my cables crossed and got there late after dropping off my daughter at gymnastics 🤸🏻♀️ practice on the other side of […]
This is the week …
Posting this blog 16 years to the day after Vern passed … and spending this important week here in Calgary, Canada, honoring both Vern’s and Jim’s passings. Vern died September 22, 2010 … Jim died September 26, 2025 I do find it rather amazing that my loss dates fall within the same week, as do […]
Vacation Loading…
I will get to see some of my widow friends soon! I cannot wait to give them all hugs and spend a few days catching up in person. But first, we must get there and only one of us has an empty nest. I am looking forward to it, but I have a lot of […]
Another New Chapter…
I recently went to a little gathering for my retirement with my former (!) coworkers. Three of the folks there had retired at different times in the past 7 years. It was super sweet and we talked a lot of shop about work stress, people’s various experiences with the transition from working (three of us […]
Memento Mori
I was over on the Oregon coast Saturday through Monday this past week finally getting to spend some quality time with the Pacific Ocean. It had been since February that I’d been over to the coast. This has not been one of the better years for a number of reasons, but suffice to say, I […]