This past weekend, Soaring Spirits International hosted and put on a “Telethon for Hope” – 2 back to back days, or 24 hours (with a short overnight break in between each day) on May 1st and May 2nd , of incredible and ongoing live entertainment – all from the safety and comfort of everyone’s individual homes. There were singers, musicians, magicians, DJ’s, poets, speakers, dancers, instructors, cooking shows, on and on and on. In between each performer were prerecorded testimonials about SSI, Camp Widow, and all the many other programs SSI offers, and widowed people sharing about why SSI means so much to them. The purpose of the telethon was to provide creative entertainment as everyone shelters at home, while trying to raise $100,000 for SSI, to make up for all the funds lost due to having to cancel several events because of COVID-19. During the telethon itself, SSI managed to raise just over $80,000, which is incredible. The donation page will be kept active for another couple of weeks, and I have no doubt these amazing people will raise every cent of that money.

I had the honor to be a participant in the telethon, in several ways. I performed 2 different Top Ten list comedy bits, one on each evening of the event. I gave the opening mini-Key Note address , which was a hopeful message about loss and grief. I took part in an interview with the Widows voice authors, which was so fun, and I shared a segment with my boyfriend Nick where we spoke as a couple about love after loss, new love, and being in a “mixed relationship” – one who is widowed and one who is not. We ended the segment with Nick sharing some of his self-written poetry. We sat at our kitchen table with my laptop, and we just spoke honestly about our life and our relationship. It was so nice. It was fun. It felt meaningful and purposeful. It felt great doing something like that together. Something others would listen to and be helped by, maybe.

Whenever the pieces of my life come together in this blend , it always makes me emotional and thankful. Thankful to have been loved by Don, in such a way that his death and his life have a lasting impact on everything going forward. Im thankful that I have a partner who understands the complexities of loss, and who never asks me to put Don away on a shelf somewhere, but instead, finds countless ways to include him in our story. I love that. I love that I can keep loving my guy who is dead, while simultaneously being so in love with my guy who is very much alive – and awesome.

Love is funny like that.

If you allow it to be, it is limitless.

And I am constantly in awe of it.