Welcome to our Blog
Whether you’ve been widowed six months or six years, the grief and pain of losing a spouse or partner never goes away. Join me as I share my own story and those of others from the young and widowed community. Let me know what topics hit close to home, which posts you draw strength from or how you’ve been inspired to keep moving through the overwhelming pain. It’s a place where you’ll always feel connected, knowing there are other young widows and widowers across the globe who understand the many emotions that come with being young and widowed.
You Know You’re Widowed When…
Widowed. It’s a more than simply having lost a spouse. From the serious to the tear-jerking to the downright hilarious, a group of young widows and widowers shared their responses to “You Know You’re Widowed When….” Was All of This Necessary? You have a substantially...
To the Widow Who Wasn’t Living Her Happily Ever After
I see your Facebook posts tucked between all the other widow's comments about love and loss. They share stories of their fairy-tale marriages. How their spouse was the best thing that ever happened to them. How he was the man of their dreams and loved them with the...
Triggers: They Hit You Out of the Blue
Triggers... They sneak up on you when you least expect it. As I got out of bed this morning and said a prayer, I instinctively reached for my phone. Jimmy Kimmel was trending. I assumed for yet another hilarious spoof but I was wrong. His monologue was about his...
10 Social Media Statuses That Show Widows Are Over Their Grief
1. The fact that she’s left her house is a sure sign that she’s over the loss 2. Who posts inspirational messages about grieving unless they’re “over it”, right? 3. But her status said “happy”. Everybody knows you can’t grieve and be happy at the same...
The Before and After
As the Admin for a widowed group, I’m charged with keeping everyone as safe as possible. That means screening all prospective members to be sure they are in fact widowed (don’t get me started on the fake widows/widowers who try to join the group on an almost daily...
To The Person Wondering Why We Dwell On Our Spouses
Here she goes again. Another post about her husband’s death. Another reminder that she’s widowed. Hasn’t she been widowed for over three years? Why do we still need to see her wedding photos? And, did she really mention her anniversary? Is it technically her 15th...
8 Things That Now Annoy Young Widows
A distinguished panel of widows recently convened to vent about every-day things that now cause incessant eye-rolling: 1. Wedding Dress Commercials No offense to David’s Bridal but their commercials no longer take us to a happy place. We now look at the couple, filled...
When Faith & Death Collide
Bad things aren’t supposed to happen when you’re sitting in church. There should be a rule that you're protected by God’s grace and mercy while you’re in His house. But on March 11, 2012, my world was shattered. As I sat worshiping, my husband was taking his last...
The Healing in Removing My Wedding Rings
A lot can happen in three month. As the clock ushered in 2017, I prepared to take off my wedding rings. The tears and uncertainty pointed out that I clearly wasn’t ready. In fact, I blogged about the experience for Hope For Widows Foundation. A few weeks ago, I looked...
Five Kick-Ass Traits of Widow Warriors
1. They Choose Happiness You’ve had one of the absolute worst things happen to you. Your soulmate, your husband, the love of your life was taken much too soon. Sadly, we all know that pain. We know what it’s like to cry for what was and what can never be. We cry for...
Ten Reasons A Divorce is NOT Like A Death
I get it. When you stood in front of the altar and made your vows, you expected happily ever after. But things changed. You both grew apart. There might have been an affair. Perhaps the continuous arguments about how to raise the children widened the growing wedge...
I Choose Happiness
It was three months ago that I blogged about Getting to the Joy: A Widowed Journey. It had taken nearly five years for me to accept the fact that despite my husband’s loss, it is okay for me to have joy in my life again. I wasn’t obligated to live a life of depression...
The Last Conversation Still Haunts
It was on this day, March 10, 2012, that I heard my husband's voice for the last time. That’s over 1,800 days of not talking to him at least three times a day. That was always our thing. When you live in different states for over half your relationship, you learn the...
To The Best Friend Who Thought My Grief Was Too Much
I often think back over our friendship. How we chatted on the phone for hours – laughing about the train wrecks we’ve encountered in our early 20’s. Remember when Mike dumped you right before Valentine’s Day and we stayed up all night drinking wine and plotting...
Five Things I Wish You’d Stop Saying About My Husband’s Death
I see you gasp, waiting for your brain to make sense of the words that just poured out my mouth. Yes, you heard correctly. I am widowed. I know, I know…"but you’re so young". Though I’m much younger than the average age of a widow, assuming that widowhood is reserved...
Widow Beef…Why is That a Thing?
Tupak Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. Elton John and Madonna Hillary Clinton and The Donald While I certainly expect there to be “beefs” in music and politics, I never expected to see so many widow beefs. This widowed group has a problem with that widow because she...
The Great Debate: Widowed or Single?
I vividly recall sitting in the doctor’s office a few months after my husband’s death. The receptionist had just handed me to the paperwork and asked me to complete the top portion. There were questions about number of pregnancies, alcohol consumption and whether or...
It’s Okay To Not Be Okay
“You’re allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress, simultaneously” It’s a fair statement to say that I’ve navigated the storms of widowhood and finally gotten to a place of joy. It’s not been an easy road though. I’ve shed many a tears, wished for the...