#lossofaspouse

Keeping an open mind, I believe we receive signs from our deceased loved ones and that when recognized can provide comfort and peace to those left behind. In the book Hello From Heaven by Bill and Judy Guggenheim, the authors collected more than 3,300 accounts of people who claim they have been contacted by a deceased loved one. Their book highlights fascinating to read ADC (after-death…

Must widows change their name?

Growing up in the 1960s, I hated my name. I was the only girl in my school, at that time, named Kristin. My teachers were confused. They insisted on calling me Christine. Some people called me Christian. They spelled it wrong either starting with a C or ending with “en”. Even my last place of employment, where I worked for 21 years, made the consistent error of spelling my name with an “en”…

9 Happy Surprises in Moving to Florida!

One month, and it’s beginning to feel like home. We definitely kept too much stuff from both our homes in New York and still need to purge, but I have faith it will happen. We unpacked most of the 106 cardboard boxes, and found interested parties on the internet to take the empty boxes, thus keeping them from landfills. Signing up for the Next Door app has been helpful. People recommend nail…

How to be kind and gentle to yourself

Being kind to myself is one of the hardest lessons I have learned on this journey after loss.  I am beginning to understand what it means to be gentle with yourself and when I am going to need some quiet time to pull it together. Grief brings about many emotions; sadness, guilt, anger, despair,  anxiety and it is pretty much agreed upon by people that I have talked to that grief does not follow…

12 Ways to Memorialize the Loss of a Loved One

Headstones, tattoos, ashes in objects, memorial runs and benches: How to memorialize and remember a loved one.  Ways to help process grief after the loss of a loved one are many and is there more guilt if you don’t do it right?

It is impressive how much good and how much craziness comes from memorializing our loved ones.

Each religion has it’s own traditions for the passing of our family members.…

10 Best Grief Books After the Loss of a Loved One

After my husband died, and the friends and family all went home or back to work, I was on my own to figure out how to be a widow. I wanted to find a book, the one that tells you what to do after your husband dies and how to deal with grief. Here are a few of the books that helped me move forward and not feel so alone in my grief journey.

“WE ARE A PARTICIPANT IN THE AMAZON SERVICES LLC…

Week 11 – Unexpected Grief Triggers come back 5 years later.

I turned on Reuters news this morning and there was no mention of Coronavirus. It hasn’t disappeared but there was more pressing news this morning.

Cities across the United States have erupted into violent scenes of protests. While Some protesters peacefully object to police brutality, others have turned into rioters. Crowds have been filmed looting stores, setting fires to police cars and…

How Grief is like a Home Renovation

I’m not one who relishes in change.  When things are going along well, I like to keep it that way.

This is why we never really bit the bullet and made any major changes to the house.  Some new paint color one time made a difference but making big changes seemed too overwhelming to us.

Unlike the loss of my husband, which was sudden, I have contemplated doing a new kitchen for years.  I made…