Widow's Voice

The Gift of Widowed People

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On the Road!

CW bus on water in Seattle.

Last week, I promised a story about a group of widowed folk actively plotting a road trip to (wait for it!) a Pop-Up Camp Widow in Seattle April 2025!

Adventure looms!

Dreaming opens the door to ideas!

Our excavation of ideas now begins!

 

But first, what is a Soaring Spirits Regional Group?

Small group at a bar.

Regional groups were dreamed up for widowed people to find each other. Not a self-help group, nor a therapy session, the regional groups strive for a friendly group dynamic for widowers and widows to meet on a regular basis. They exist to welcome new widowed folk and to experience the good “medicine” that widowed people are for one another.

The regional group is not a therapy group; we simply break bread together.

Regional group leaders receive training to facilitate a safe space for listening and relating. A gentle learning emerges as members experience the changes that come with time through our informal conversation and the sharing of our stories. The gathering provides a chance for us to say our person’s name and to speak (if we wish) about challenges, to name our hopes, and to gain inspiration from the progress of others. Monthly meet-ups offer a backdrop to observe our own path through grief when the mile-markers of our progress are not always clear to us.

In short, grief work is simply paying attention to your grief and responding intentionally in ways that you know will help you heal and discover restoration.  —Karen Nicola

 

Camp Widow: A Unique Gift

Photo of hundreds of Camp Widow participants in San Diego, CA

How do we honor our loss and our person?

How do we find our way?

Who am I now that my person is gone?

Camp Widow helps us to answer this question in small steps that awaken our awareness over time.

 

So, who is the group of widowed folk actively plotting a road trip to Camp Widow, Seattle, in April 2025? Possibly many groups who are familiar with the gift that is Camp Widow, I hope!

 

The group I am speaking about is the Riverside Regional Group, a relatively new group with some twenty members of which 6 to 10 regularly attend our monthly meal meetings. I am honored to serve as leader, with my co-leader, Shelley Roth.

 

I began by meeting with Shelley to check on the viability of the idea and to see if she is game. She is! Then I pulled in John, another member of our group, who has some experience with Seattle. The three of us formed the fact-finding team and met by Zoom to discuss:

  • Airbnb vs hotel options
  • Location details for walking distance from the conference
  • Ideas for other things we may wish to see when there
  • Travel ideas, need for car or not, etc.

After that, we took initial steps to determine interest:

  1. Announcement at meeting outlining dates and facts;
  2. Obtaining interested persons who want to know more via sign-up sheet;
  3. Setting a Zoom meeting date to discuss options;

So far, we’ve decided hotel over Airbnb since if someone cancels it is much easier to manage if each person has their own hotel reservation. My hope is that if we pull off this adventure, and it goes smoothly, that in the future we might take the Airbnb option. In the meantime, there is a “gathering space” at the hotel that we can utilize while we’re there.

 

Adventure ahead!

Adventure is the bridge between dreams and reality. When we walk across that bridge, we can explore the unknown and uncover hidden wonders. With every step, we move closer to our ambitions, passions, and goals. Adventure gives us the courage to take risks and make bold decisions – decisions that help shape our destiny. – Unknown

 

More to be revealed here next week . . . stay tuned!

 

Suspension bridge over water.

 

 

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