Life Why a Car Can Mean So Much Meet my new-to-me '09 Subaru Forester. A new-to-me car may not seem like a big deal to some. But to me, it's a huge symbol of how far I've come. I don't consider myself a super materialistic person, albeit I do love some
Life Tears, Widows, and the Memoir As I told the story of how I came to be a widow, I felt the tears well up in my eyes, my throat closing. Just as I was recalling how Kevin had asked me to stay at Johns Hopkins that night, and the next morning I could feel his
Life Passionate Grief...Gone This past week I picked up the last of Kevin's items from my parents home. Hockey bag, weight lifting equipment, his suit. The suit I debated burying him in. Tears welled up, but they didn't fall. Emotion swelled, but I didn't break. I felt
Life A Widow's View on the U.S. Healthcare Debate My 2009 Associated Content Contributor of the Year Article: My late husband and I battled through U.S. immigration in 2006 to finally be wed on Feb. 3, 2007. He became a permanent resident in the United States, and in doing so, we both had to sign away rights to
Life Tips to Begin to Move Forward After a Traumatic Event When my husband passed on October 28, 2008, I felt the immediate need to continue doing the things he loved. Working out, learning ice hockey, and come summertime, surf fish in the Atlantic Ocean. But eventually, I stopped enjoying the gym as his workout buddies would come up and ask
Life Meet Molly The boy and I got a dog. Yep, we live in separate houses, but we share the dog together. Meet Molly Molly has a past, kind of like us. She's 6 years old, and the Humane League told us that her parent abandoned her with a roommate and
Life U.S. Immigration as Flawed as Ever Word spread quickly of a Marine's widow and their child's (1) inability to legally immigrate to the US because of an old U.S. immigration law requiring their marriage to be consummated. Having faced my own immigration battles, I knew the system had its' faults,
Life Long Distance Relationships Warn torn lovers used to write letters daily by pen, and wait anxiously for weeks at a time until letters arrived. They longed and wondered and dreamt of the day they would be together. Today, the long distance relationship has been boldly transformed thanks to the Internet and other technological
Life How to Survive Office Gossip Nothing is worse for your work environment, then nasty office gossip. Whether you see a co-worker in public with someone who is not their girlfriend, you hear through the grapevine that the head of accounting slept with his receptionist, or whatever the case may be, office gossip can be detrimental
Life Gut and Gumption I am constantly surprised when I go to therapy and I find out that I'm doing pretty well considering everything. Rather than letting my issues compound, like I used to do when every new upset arose, now I get through one or two or ten things and move
Life Underlying Pressure Under pressure. Underlying pressure. Two very different things. I have felt a lot of underlying pressure lately. Ok, my entire life. The pressure to live up to some hidden and righteous expectation. The pressure that things should go exactly as I see them. But that's just not how
Life Merging of Family It had been 2 years since I last saw my in laws - Kevin's brother and mother came to visit me and my family this week. The merging of new and old worlds. They met my boy, his family, and to me, it all felt just right. It
Life Committing to This I feel like I am in a constant state of transition. If it's not something new, it's something new I want. I seek it out. I thought this Summer would be filled with possibilities, and it is, just not what I expected. I'm booked,
Life Top 70+ SPF Sunscreens For those of us blessed with pale, milky skin, going outside can be absolute torture. I have grown up with very pale skin, and my family and I have tried everything under the sun to get proper, safe skin protection from the sun. One of the first products I found
Life Just Be I should have become an anthropologist. I love people - being involved with them, interacting with them, watching their mannerisms, and of course, judging them. A friend said to me tonight that she wasn't worried about cleaning before I came over because I wouldn't judge her.
Life From Camp Widow & Beyond Camp Widow East: Amazing, connective, refreshing. Below is the blog I wrote while still at Camp Widow in Myrtle Beach, SC. I look forward to sharing more about Camp Widow soon! __ Hello and greetings from CrazyWidow & CampWidow CWx2. I realized, on my second year here at Camp Widow, that
Life Part Two: Widowed with No Children This Friday I will be leading a discussion on being Widowed with No Children at Camp Widow. Last year at Camp Widow I realized the amazing bond that nearly all widows have with one another. Being able to share our aches with one another was helpful and healing. I also
Life Part One: Widowed with No Children If you are able to attend Camp Widow in just over a week, you are in for a treat, because I'll be leading the round-table discussion on being Widowed with No Children. No, that's not really the treat - the treat is getting to connect with
Life CBS Dating Show I typically don't endorse anything unless I believe in it. But sometimes, you are presented something that is worthwhile passing along to others who might be interested. For my widow friends who are ready to date and a bit outgoing/adventurous, please click here to read information on
Life Choosing Me I can feel the surge of the wave of grief. The tide pulling me out, under, sucking the breathe out of me and causing my heart to race. This is what happens when the past overwhelms me. It has become even more difficult to deal with as my brain tries
Life He Would Be 40 When I see these pictures of Kevin, just about a month after his 36th Birthday, his last birthday on earth, I see such life. Kevin would be 40 on Saturday, April 7, 2012. It's a moment I know I, probably more than him, would have looked forward to.
Life Spring Cleaning for Home, Body and Mind It is the time of year when things come alive in the United States. The winter slowly begins its thaw. Random days of sunshine and rain usher in thoughts of picnics, beach vacations, and sunshine. With it, the sun shines into our homes, bodies, and minds reminding us of the
Life Why "Camping" with Widows is Important & How You Can Help Update: $20 into my goal of $375 - can you help me get to $100 today? Click HERE to donate. Last August I attended my first Camp Widow with the Soaring Spirits Loss Foundation in San Diego, CA. Not only was it my first Camp Widow, but I was presenting
Life I Almost Ran Over My Neighbor Today I almost ran over my former neighbor. I was driving to work, down one of 3 roads I take to get to the highway, and the one I drove on this morning was past our old address. The apartment that we first called home after living for a couple
Life He's Been Dead Too Long... That day will be tomorrow. The day I've been dreading. The day Kevin will have been dead longer than I knew him. Why should this day matter so much? It really only matters as much as I focus on it, and, well, I'm focusing on it.
