Big thanks to Fresh Widow who organized this “Sh*t People Say to Widows” video – it was fun to participate in this and to see the final result. While I understand now that many people have good intentions in what they say to widows, it still doesn’t annul the fact that people say some dumb things. [...]
The month of January is coming to an end and I have been quiet enough only to have published 2 blogs. I never would have viewed this as an accomplishment, but I have wanted to step away from the super social aspects of life for a while, and I feel that distance has given me [...]
Trust is fickle (been itching to use that word). We give it. We tell people they need to earn it. We test it. We take it away. We use it to manipulate. To taunt. We question it. I don’t know why I lacked trust after Kevin died. Kevin never did anything to ruin my trust. [...]
When the article about my story came out this week. The reporter stated “She said her support system dropped off months after Kevin died. Friends stopped communicating with her and later told her they didn’t know what to say or do.” While I was fortunate to have amazing family and a few key friends who [...]
As I bitched about my job yesterday I realized that it was inappropriate, but I didn’t care. I wanted to complain. I wanted to be annoyed at the situation which is out of my control (reminder Bren, everything is out of your control). Even when a widow friend reminded me to be grateful that I [...]
Imagine your life having no marker on earth. Buried in the ground and 100 years later, no one knows your body is there. Passed away without a record of your life except for the ticket of sale for your body. This is where my friend Andi comes into this scenario. Andi lives in Bremo Bluff, [...]
Imagine your life having no marker on earth. Buried in the ground and 100 years later, no one knows your body is there. Passed away without a record of your life except for the ticket of sale for your body. This is where my friend Andi comes into this scenario. Andi lives in Bremo Bluff, [...]
I sat in front of the lapping water at a nearby wildlife preserve here in Central Pennsylvania. I had a goal to hit 40,000 words in the memoir this weekend, and I knew if I didn’t escape the walls of my apartment, or Roku, they would never be written. It has been an often discussed [...]
Excerpt from “My First Summer in Sierra” by John Muir – July 22: “Many others, pines as well as firs, bear testimony to the crushing severity of this particular storm. Trees, some of them fifty to seventy-five feet high, were bent to the ground and buried like grass. Whole groves vanishing as if the forest [...]
I returned yesterday from 4 special days in San Diego attending Camp Widow. When I arrived, I was overwhelmed. I had hoped I would see faces and just “know” who they were. I was hoping I wouldn’t feel lost. I was hoping I could instantly connect. It took just a few hours, but soon, I [...]
This is a taste of my future. Come May 4, I’ll be flying into San Jose, Costa Rica with my boyfriend. It’s all courtesy of the travel writing contest I won through Wyndham Women Local Nation. I have never left the country, other than to Puerto Rica & Canada. This is a whole new exploration [...]
I never knew if Jess and I would really click, but we did, and I was surprised. I just thought we were two very different individuals, both happened to be Nanny’s, but in such different points in our lives. Oddly enough, our lives have converged interestingly. I’m so proud of Jess and how far she [...]
I’ll admit, I have a writer crush on Shawn Smucker. Don’t tell his wife Maile, but truth be told, I kind of have a crush on her too. They are a powerhouse team, and I know this because without doing life together, I don’t think Shawn would have become a writer at all. Shawn has [...]
Hillary is a self proclaimed mom of two girls, wife to computer geek, counselor turned SAHM. I met Hillary through, you guessed it, Twitter. Hillary and I sometimes have relating tweets, which is why I was drawn to her. She, like me, doesn’t try to smother her emotions about grief. This may have something to [...]
Today you can read my guest blog over at Shawn Smucker’s blog. For the widows who are reading and are in San Diego at Camp Widow, come find me and say hi! You’ll see me hobbling around with a strawberry cane. I can’t wait to meet you all!
Every now and then someone has a story they want and need to share, but no outlet for which to present it. Sometimes that story is almost too painful to write, too difficult to share, especially publicly. I am sharing this story on behalf of someone who needed to share, but did not know how. [...]
