• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Widow's Voice

Widow's Voice

  • Soaring Spirits
  • Donate
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Categories
  • Authors
    • Kelley Lynn
    • Emily Vielhauer
    • Emma Pearson
    • Kathie Neff
    • Gary Ravitz
    • Victoria Helmly
    • Lisa Begin-Kruysman

Daughter

The Last Dance

April 10, 2018 by Mike Welker Leave a Comment

Shelby is nearing the end of her 5th grade year.  In just a few more months, she will be off to middle school.  All I have known of her for most of her life is that she is an elementary school student. Through the sickness, health, additional sickness, and death of her mother, she has never skipped a beat, still bringing home 3.0 or higher…

Filed Under: Widowed, Widowed Parenting, Widowed Milestones, Miscellaneous Tagged With: Routines, Reflection, widower, milestones, Mike Welker, widower with children, dance, End, Daughter, school

Maturity Rising

February 27, 2018 by Mike Welker Leave a Comment

`Yesterday, the 26th, was Sarah’s mother’s birthday.  Part of a tradition that she has done over the years is to have a small cake, and a bouquet of flowers, as a way of celebrating her, though she’s no longer here.  It’s a simple gesture that means so much.  She lost her mother when she was only nine years old.  While her siblings were…

Filed Under: Widowed, Widowed Parenting, Widowed by Illness, Miscellaneous Tagged With: parenting, Daughter, maturity, Mindfullness, widower, Long Term Illness, Mike Welker, widower with children, growing up

Number Eleven

February 20, 2018 by Mike Welker Leave a Comment

Four years have come and gone since the last time Megan was present for Shelby’s birthday.  By February 17, 2014, Megan had already been diagnosed with rejection, although she hadn’t been admitted to the hospital as of yet.  Shelby was turning seven, and four days prior, Megan and I received the results from her bronchoscopy. We rented out…

Filed Under: Widowed, Widowed Parenting, Widowed Birthdays, Miscellaneous Tagged With: sarah treanor, Mike Welker, widower with children, growing up, Daughter, widower, birthdays

Loss of a Different Kind

January 9, 2018 by Mike Welker Leave a Comment

In my 37 years, I’ve seen my share of loss.  I’ve lost all of my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, fellow Marines, a brother-in-law, cats, dogs and other pets, co-workers, and obviously, my wife.  There has been illness, accidents, age, war, heart-attacks, and a sprinkle of stupidity involved.  It happens.  Death happens.  I…

Filed Under: Widowed, Widowed Parenting, Widowed Milestones, Miscellaneous Tagged With: Mike Welker, widower with children, kids, growing up, parenting, Daughter, dad, Preparedness, widower, milestones

Embrace the Tomboy

June 27, 2017 by Mike Welker Leave a Comment

I don’t know how to raise a girl in any other way than I’m doing.  I’ve never done it before, I don’t have a sister, and last I checked, I’d never been a girl myself.  I’m pretty clueless when it comes to makeup or clothes, and the only reason I know how to braid hair is because it’s the same technique you would use to make rope in…

Filed Under: Widowed, Widowed Parenting, Miscellaneous Tagged With: widower, Mike Welker, widower with children, Daughter, dad, father, Tomboy, Girl, Raising a Girl

Father’s Day Gift

June 20, 2017 by Mike Welker Leave a Comment

Father’s Day 2017. For once, we had a weekend day where there was nothing to do.  We had visited with both mine and Megan’s dads on Saturday, specifically planning to have an open day wedged into the seemingly constant stream of other events that have been taking time on our weekends together. Sarah was awake and moving well before i was (a…

Filed Under: Widowed, Widowed Parenting, Widowed Emotions, Miscellaneous Tagged With: Shelby, processing grief, widower, Mike Welker, widower with children, kids, Daughter, emotions, Father's Day, Letters

Plastic Guitars

October 4, 2016 by Mike Welker Leave a Comment

Just last week, I wrote about how, for the most part, random triggers are few and far between for me.  Even trying to actively trigger myself has become difficult.  Wouldn’t you know it?  A day after writing that, an event occurred that randomly brought tears to my eyes for missing Megan.   As silly as it may sound, it was a video game that…

Filed Under: Widowed Parenting, Miscellaneous Tagged With: Proud Moments, Toys, Games, Video Games, Mike Welker, widower with children, Daughter, children, missing out

The Pulse Beat of Love Over Everything Else~

March 16, 2016 by Alison Miller Leave a Comment

I have to remind myself, as many of us do, I expect, that this widowhood is, as I learned in AA, a matter of progress, not perfection. Because I, for one, consistently seem to expect more of myself than is realistic. By which I mean, I continually scan my body and mind and heart to see where I am in this grief and why I’m not further along, even…

Filed Under: Widowed, Widowed Effect on Family/Friends, Widowed Emotions, Widowed Therapy, Widowed by Illness, Miscellaneous Tagged With: widowhood, Daughter, husband, wife, rage, EMDR, hospice, family, therapy, love, grief

Don’t Blink

February 22, 2016 by Mike Welker Leave a Comment

There was once a time when I assumed that Shelby would grow up more quickly than her peers.  Since she was born, she’s dealt with her mother being sick, going through major surgeries, and ultimately, dying.  That a sobering thought when you’re the parent of a little girl, who really just wants to go to school, play with her toys, and do fun…

Filed Under: Widowed, Widowed Parenting, Widowed Birthdays, Miscellaneous Tagged With: widower, birthdays, Mike Welker, widower with children, growing up, Daughter, father, maturing

Olive Juice

February 8, 2016 by Mike Welker Leave a Comment

Megan’s priority in life was Shelby.  The fact that it is so unlikely that a Cystic Fibrosis sufferer can even have a child naturally made Shelby that much more valuable to both of us.  Her “peanut”, as we call her, completed Megan.     During her hospitalization, Megan and I had to have “the talk”.  We knew the odds of her coming…

Filed Under: Widowed, Widowed Parenting, Widowed and New Love, Widowed by Illness, Miscellaneous Tagged With: Daughter, widower, Long Term Illness, dating, sarah treanor, Mike Welker, widower with children, new love

Primary Sidebar

Footer

Quick Links

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Categories
  • Authors

SSI Network

  • Soaring Spirits International
  • Camp Widow
  • Resilience Center
  • Soaring Spirits Gala
  • Widowed Village
  • Widowed Pen Pal Program
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Contact Info

Soaring Spirits International
2828 Cochran St. #194
Simi Valley, CA 93065

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 877-671-4071

Soaring Spirits International is a 501(c)3 Corporation EIN#: 38-3787893. Soaring Spirits International provides resources with no endorsement implied.

Copyright © 2023 Widow's Voice. All Rights Reserved.