“Was I a widow? Or was I just the ex-wife? I was still the mother of his child, but we weren’t in an active relationship at this time of his death. What and who did this make me? I’d lost the man I loved, but I wasn’t granted extended bereavement time off work. There was no GoFundMe pages created to help with the unexpected funeral costs. His sudden death had me questioning everything, including my identity.”
‘Just 10 months after our divorce was finalized, AJ took his own life.’: Divorced widow navigates grief with rare identity
‘Who’s going to love me now?’ Tears slid down his face, and I knew he wouldn’t want to live with the scars.’: Young widow shares grief journey after losing husband in tragic accident
“There was a flash of light, screams. My reality became a blur. Everything I had ever imagined for myself was gone.”
To My Grieving Friends – You Don’t Have To Be Okay
“The innocence you had before the atomic bomb of grief is gone, and left are the ashes of a life you wanted to live.”
‘She is SUPERWOMAN. But she CAN’T do it alone.’: Widow urges ‘reach out to a single parent today’
“She can grocery shop, clean, and feed 5 bodies regularly. She can work out, read her scriptures, and say her prayers daily. You might have seen her do all these things at one point or another, but, I promise you, she can’t do it ALL.”
‘6 months after Scott’s death, I woke up and decided it was time to take a pregnancy test.’: Widow births IVF baby after husband’s sudden death, ‘He’s the medicine my heart needed’
“‘I’ll call you when we land.’ My phone started going crazy. Holding his hand, I promised him I would move forward with building our family.”
‘Justin walked into the room and began to sob. ‘I relapsed.’ My heart sank.’: Widow honors late boyfriend by traveling, ‘I’m seeing these views for him’
“I held him and assured him, ‘We’ll get through this together.’ We got through that relapse. And the next one. He relapsed three more times. And then, just like that, he was gone.”
‘Did you kill my daddy?’ There was a bullet hole in the ceiling above my bed.’: Widow shares grief after husband’s suicide
“I remember being in the hot tub, taking another shot, and waking up to chaos. There was nothing but pain in my ears.”
‘I just want to be normal.’ In a moment of weakness, he used a drug he never had before.’: Woman widowed by addiction urges ‘end the stigma’
“All he wanted was to be the best father, husband, and provider he could be. I refuse to let addiction be his legacy.”
‘Something bad happened to Daddy on the boat. He’s not coming home.’ I watched their childhood innocence get stripped away.’: Widow loses husband in tragic accident
“A stranded boat would be spotted, only to find it wasn’t them. ‘Can you identify this hat? This flip flop? This fishing rod?’ It was mentally and emotionally exhausting.”
‘As he took his last breaths, he tried to tell me something. I whispered, ‘I love you and I know you love me too. It’s okay.’: Widow shares grief of losing veteran husband to cancer
“While our friends were getting dream jobs, dream homes, getting married, and having kids, we were fighting for his life.”
