I began writing blog posts for Widow’s Voice on October 1st of last year, nearly a year after the passing of my husband, Rich. I actually couldn’t remember when I’d started as the Saturday Poster (the fog is real) and it was only when I perused my archived posts that I realized I’d really had started to write again, showing “up on the page” for 8 months now. That in and of itself is a huge accomplishment and I thank everyone that stops by weekly to read. I try to keep these posts under 700 words as I understand the fierce competition for “mind space”! I do love it when I get encouragement from readers and someone lets me know what resonated with them. That helps to keep me going.

In the past year and a half I’ve lost “my beloved guy” trio – my husband, my nephew, that I helped to raise and considered my “Soul Son”, and now my Dad just weeks ago. Although my parents have resided in Assisted Living in some form for the past two years, I have been an active advocate for them and have managed their lives in all ways while maintaining my own home and life post-Rich. I’m grateful for all the help and support I do receive and the reliable family members, friends, community and services that help to make life easier.

All of the above can drain the life and energy out of one. There were times during the past two months when I came home with a long list of important tasks I needed to complete, especially when both parents were hospitalized an hour from here, at the same time. They actually ended up on the same floor of the hospital in Brunswick, GA, a quirky coincidence, the same hospital where Rich passed in October 2021. I fought hard to block that reality in order to concentrate on what needed to be done in the present. Then there was the grueling period of my dad’s advanced stage of hospice. At day’s end, instead of completing those important and necessary tasks, I’d find myself passed out on the couch, not even recalling how I’d fallen asleep. Crashing and alone time are what kept me sane and centered  –  well sort of – when nothing anyone could say or do could help.

For some time now, I’ve truly wanted to resume my art business and the writing of a Memoir I began two years ago, but that’s a luxury I’ve not been able to afford time-wise. Now, however, I’m happy to share that my Proposal for presenting at Soaring Spirits/International’s, Camp Widow, has been officially accepted. In mid-July I will fly to the West Coast to conduct a writing workshop for widowed folks. I will relay more information about Camp Widow in a subsequent Post. 

The name of my workshop is Using Written Word to Capture and Comprehend Your Personal Journey. I will share my own experience as an author/blogger/widowed person with the goal to encourage others to at the very least organize their own thoughts and experiences into a shareable story to use in a multitude of ways if not just for their own healing. 

I’ve presented and acted as Keynote Speakers for a variety of groups in the past, but it has been some time now. So I am now reaching back to those event memories while trying to update myself on the writing world from which I’ve been absent for a time. I hope to reach out to those in the Publishing World for useful information I can share with those just trying to find a way to validate their own experiences through writing.

And it has occurred to me that as my own story has changed since I began my own Memoir, I can use this fortuitous occasion to relaunch my own book project as the location of where I will be staying, and presenting, is right near the location where I first met my pup, Quint, in Seaport Village in San Diego. Fetching Quint: Memoir of a Dog Writer may have hit “Paws” but with this nod from the Universe to share my story with others and to encourage other story-tellers, I may have found myself on “The Write Path” once again, and hopefully inspire others to forge their own.