Widow's Voice

Standing Between Milestones

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I’m Still Here

Me in shawl before tree.

The yearly calendar continues its dance. Just passed July 4th wedding anniversary and just ahead, in August, Dan’s birthday (tho not till the 28th).

A footpath for grief?

Or milestones on the journey?

Who can say for sure what any of it means?

Poetry says it best.

 

I held my morning in a cup.
The quiet steeped slowly, turning familiar things dark.
Grief didn’t spill — it soaked in.
Silent.
Stronger with time.

Laughter echoed in the same room
where I once broke.
It didn’t cancel the ache —
it lit it.
Beauty arrived uninvited, and stayed.

I no longer look for who I was.
I wait for who is arriving.
She walks with quieter footsteps,
but she knows
how to hold what hurts without spilling.

I don’t know where this path leads.
I only know
I still take the next step,
even when the fog swallows
everything beyond my feet.

About Kathie Neff

Kathie Neff was widowed on April 15, 2021. She and her beloved husband, Dan, were high school sweethearts and enjoyed dancing and riding horses together. They lived in gratitude, hope and forgiveness for 50 years and nine months when Dan passed quietly late at night, surrounded by their seven children who, with Kathie, were caring for him in their family home.

Dan and Kathie have been a part of Camp Widow and Soaring Spirits International since its inception, as members of Michele Neff Hernandez’s cadre of helpers from the Neff family.

Kathie believes strongly in the strength and bond that is the gift of community and brings a heart of love for all who have been affected by death and dying.

Long live love. XO