The sun shines bright and my heart beats strong. The clouds begin to part, and I inhale deeply. Beckon life. Welcome home. #findingbeautyinchaos #widowstrong #lookingintherearviewmirror#widow #widower #widowed #widowedmom #grief #widowlife #widowedyoung #youngwidow #griefsucks #write #writer #womenwhowrite #writersofinstagram #words #widowhood #widowedandyoung #lifeafterloss #heartbreak #lifeafterlove #movingforward #bereavement #loss #soloparenting #griefsupport #grieving #widowsofinstagram #hopeforthefuture
Author Archives: Melissa
Oh…and I’m a widow…
When I’d introduce myself to friends, the first thing I’d think to share about myself, after my name, was my marital status. Like everyone needed to know that I was widowed. But it was me. For a time, it was my entire identity. Until recently. Sometime in the first year after his passing I bought …
Live 💙
I’ve come across a few quotes, shared postings on living. But what if you’re waiting on the next step? How does one live while waiting? You’ve weathered the first several years of grief. You’ve said your goodbyes. You’ve written your letters. You’ve spent the better part of however many years learning to live in the …
Father’s Day
QUESTION: Is it ok to say Happy Father’s Day to a widow who has lost her husband? ANSWER: YES! It’s a way of acknowledging her children’s father. It’s also a way of showing appreciation to the only living parent who is both Mother and Father. To my widow friends – Happy Father’s Day! 💙 findingbeautyinchaos …
LETTING GO – SAYING GOODBYE
The final part of the goodbye letter is just that.Say goodbye.We know in our minds they will never come home. We’ve received the death certificates, maybe even began to remove his or her name from the electric bill, the bank account, the lease on our home.We’ve said the head goodbye, but not the heart goodbye.Its …
WAYWARD ONE
Pushin’ past my limit, cause I just can’t seem to forget itThe unleashed fire burnt my finger ’cause I forgot that I lit itRunnin’ like a sinner ’cause man, you know, I ain’t no beginnerAnd then I crawled back to the life that I said I just couldn’t live in’Cause I just couldn’t open up, …
LETTING GO -PART 4
The second to last piece of this letter is all about the ways in which your spouse has changed you. Everything you became as a result of him or her in your life, for the time they spent in your life. Mine is a love letter I wrote to him on our 10th wedding anniversary …
LETTING GO – PART 3
This time it is about you. All those nights we sit up weeping. Haunted by everything we wish we didn’t, but did anyway. We tend to camp out in regret as widows and widowers, reliving the ways in which we’ve disappointed or hurt our late spouse. This seems easy to write given all the time …
LETTING GO – PART 2
LETTING GO – PART 2 I wrote weeks ago the inaugural act that led me to ultimately say goodbye. A letter. Comprised of four parts, the first part begins with forgiveness. But it’s not what you think. It’s not regret. And it’s not about you. It’s about your spouse, and it’s about the ways in …
WE WERE
An excerpt from a little something I’ve written 💙 August 5, 2013, 9:00am “Happy Anniversary Babe,” he said from his hospital room. “Happy Anniversary – thirteen years! I love you!” “I love you too,” he said before hanging up. I’d been up for awhile with our five children, getting them breakfast and settled in some …