“‘It’s terminal. No cure. He has 6 months left.’ He grabbed me by the hand and asked if he could have one last dance with me. We slow danced in the middle of his hospital room as the monitors beeped in the background. He was withering away. Don’t wait to take the trip, don’t wait to say I’m sorry. Each day is a gift.”
‘His stomach was swelling. ‘If I don’t make it, I need you to promise me you’ll remarry. We’re not meant to do life by ourselves.’: Woman urges ‘each day is a gift’ after losing husband to Stage IV Stomach Cancer
‘I jostled awake to the sensation of the couch moving. ‘PLEASE!!’ His eyes rolled back. I watched as Kenny’s body flailed uncontrollably.’: Woman finds love after losing husband to cancer
“My sobbing husband pulled me close and choked out, ‘Don’t EVER let me be a vegetable. Do you hear me???’ The weight of his words shattered my shock. My face crumbled. ‘It’s recommended you never procreate again.’ We’d accidentally gotten pregnant the last month it would ever be possible.”
‘The officer said, ‘There’s been an incident at the pool.’ I expected stitches. ‘I’m going to get right to the point, Jason died tonight.’: Woman diagnosed with cancer after husband’s death, ‘I’m choosing to LIVE’
“We sat in a circle on a bedroom floor. ‘Last night daddy went swimming. His body died. He won’t come home ever again.’ One week after the funeral, I received a call: ‘You have cancer, and not the run-of-the-mill kind. It travels distantly and doesn’t always respond to treatments.’ The rubble of my life had just caught fire.”
‘I woke up on my wedding day to the phone ringing. ‘Come down right away!’ It wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t fate.’: Twice widowed woman recounts sudden losses of fiancés, ‘There’s no shame in grieving’
“I remember a deafening silence and then a loud scream, ‘MIKE!!!’ I ran until I collapsed and heard the sirens.”
‘Aren’t we past this?’ Years after his murder, I was holding an unmanageable amount of pain.’: Woman details grief journey after losing husband, ‘I’m letting joy in’
“It has been 5 years since my incredibly loving husband was murdered on our wedding anniversary.”
‘I am older than he was when he died, and there is nothing more unnatural than that.’: Widow powerfully reminisces on birthdays, ‘This is not the way it’s supposed to be’
“He was always supposed to be older than me, yet now he is suspended forever in time at 45. I don’t want to be older than him. It’s not the way it’s supposed to be.”
‘Lauren, are you with anyone right now?’ I looked at our GPS and he was still in the same spot. My legs went numb and I dropped.’: Widow finds strength in grief journey
“‘I have ‘extra’ appreciation for you today!’ He jokingly rolled his eyes towards me. I gave him a kiss, told him I loved him, and to be safe. Later, I texted Kev to see if he would be back at the house before me. He didn’t respond.”
‘My mother-in-law was texting me nonstop. ‘Can you meet me?’ She refused to tell me what happened. I got sick to my stomach.’: Young widow shares life after loss, raising late husband’s ‘clone’
“I called Mike’s phone. It went straight to voicemail. In that moment, the air was sucked from my world. All of this was happening while I had a room of 3rd graders. I couldn’t let on that something was seriously wrong.”
‘I found myself sniffing men’s deodorant in aisle 11, holding back tears. I’m trying not to forget his smell, but it’s fading.’: Widow candidly shares ‘gut-wrenching’ grief journey
“She said, ‘It’s good to see you’re moving on.’ It’s been two years since my husband died. No matter how much time keeps adding onto that calendar day when I last saw him, I’ll never get over it.”
‘Thank you for your service.’ At that moment, they weren’t a black man and a white kid.’: Mom shares son’s act of kindness, ‘Take two and a half minutes to show somebody respect’
“They were two men made of the same cloth.”
