Posts Tagged widow

Strong Hearts Carry Both Joy and Sorrow

On May 10, 2022 / Bereavement and End of Life, My Land and Home / 15 Comments

The forest is green with moss and ferns. Fiddleheads near the stream are ready to harvest and the maple trees dropped their tiny red flowers on the forest floor. Trout lilies finish their season just as Trillium

Grief Rituals Keep Our Family Love Alive

On May 25, 2021 / Bereavement and End of Life, Family and Friends / 24 Comments

“I love you, David,” I say when my North Carolina son arrives on Thursday night. Because of the pandemic, I haven’t seen him for 8 months, so I wrap my arms around him and press my cheek

Keeping Secrets

On April 27, 2021 / Bereavement and End of Life / 20 Comments

When our son David and I arrived at the hospital room that morning in 2008, Vic sat upright, his bare legs hanging over the side of the bed. He looked exhausted and uncomfortable, but it was the

The Sacred Path of Love: Letters from 1967 & 2020

On August 4, 2020 / Bereavement and End of Life, Family and Friends / 37 Comments

July 12, 1967 Dear Esel, After your bus left, I couldn’t face the apartment, so went to the cycle shop. Maybe mindless people could make me forget. No hope. I finally got the strength to sulk back

Choose What You Love

On March 3, 2020 / Family and Friends, Psychology and Mythology / 15 Comments

I lie in the dark in my lover’s arms listening to his slow sleeping breath. I’ve known him just a few months, but he’s the man I want to marry. A streetlight on West Seneca Street beams

When Heartbreak Becomes A Second Chance

On October 17, 2017 / Bereavement and End of Life, Creativity, Psychology and Mythology / 49 Comments

I didn’t want a second chance. I liked my first option, the married life I’d worked on and loved for forty years. My husband Vic and I called our relationship “the Path of Marriage.” In 1967, it

Interdependence

On January 31, 2017 / Bereavement and End of Life, Political Action, Spirituality / 27 Comments

I should have known sorrow would flood my heart. I should have known grief would grab my belly and soak my face. I should have known I’d search the crowd for my dead husband’s smile. I should have known

How to Remember the Sorrow We Can’t Forget

On November 1, 2016 / Bereavement and End of Life, Spirituality / 30 Comments

“I don’t come to Vic’s cairn so often now,” I said to my friend. She and I had walked my favorite forest trails before taking a side trail to the stone memorial where my husband’s ashes are buried.

Letting Go of Fear

On September 6, 2016 / Bereavement and End of Life, Psychology and Mythology / 35 Comments

I lie in darkness under warm blankets. Willow snoozes on her bed on the floor. It’s 4 a.m. My heart pounds as though I’m being chased. No one here except me and this demon. Each breath comes knotted and

A Gift of Love Delivered Long after His Death

On August 23, 2016 / Bereavement and End of Life, Creativity, Family and Friends / 30 Comments

My TEDx talk has over 50,000 viewers. The numbers keep growing. I’m glad it continues to help people who grieve. My husband Vic and I met fifty years ago this week. My love keeps growing, too. In