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Grieving Men Returning to Work
No matter what personal devastation may come in life, the world continues to turn. For so many of us that means returning to work after the loss of a loved one. As men, we also have an inherent trait for control of our environment, and the loss of a loved one was something we could…
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Widowers, Wounded, Warrior, Waling and Walking
Desire Purpose Often, our gift to this world–the thing we are here to do–is the thing we tend to fear or dislike the most. Scary how that works. I wanted to be a writer. Here I am writing a blog, not a book. What did you want to be when you grew up? I used…
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Grieving is like a Roller Coaster in the Fog
WSN-MO: The Perfect Catch It’s Thursday. That means its time for WSN-MO Dating and Relationship Coach, Christine Baumgartner. This week, Christine writes WSN-MO members an open letter. Grieving Feels like a Roller Coaster in the Fog I’m grateful to be writing to widowers with my thoughts on grieving and on dating after loss. My experience…
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Love, Roses and Marilyn Monroe
One of my wife’s favorite books near the end of her life was “Joe and Marilyn” by C. David Heymann. Susan was fascinated by the tumultuous love story between Marilyn Monroe and baseball star Joe DiMaggio. We would often sit out on our patio sipping wine while Susan read several sections of the book to…
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Escaping Anxiety
When my wife passed 4 years ago, I first experienced shock and then numbness, after that anger and depression, and after that resignation and doubts about my future without her. It wasn’t until around my sixth month of grieving that I began to experience something unfamiliar to me since my 20’s and 30’s, anxiety… and…
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What I Miss Most
The current Corvid 19 pandemic effected most people’s life in some way. As a widowed man and an empty nester, the current protocol that I have chosen to follow has given me a significant amount of time to reflect on my life. Recently I gave a lot of thought to what I miss most about…
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Why Widowers Grieve Differently, and Some Resources To Help
By: Herb Knoll Author: The Widower’s Journey Widowers are vulnerable. Very vulnerable! In fact, according to research performed by Dr. Justin Denney of Washington State University, widowed men have a 1.6 to 2.0 times the risk of death by suicide, compared to otherwise similar married men, and they’ll do so within two years of their…
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Simplify, Simplify, Simplify!
Last month, I spent 12 days with my daughter in Oregon. We rented an AirBnB. We enjoyed a lot of time in the mountains of the Willamette and Deschutes National Forests. She’s an avid hiker, and like me, loves the outdoors. The more time I spent in the woods, the more I felt myself really…
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The Dangers of Compound Isolation
“How has everyone been dealing with the loneliness, especially in this socially distancing world?” Jeremy asked this question, a member of the Widowers Support Network – Members Only, a ministry on Facebook for grieving men who have lost their soulmate. The responses to Jeremy’s question ranged from “It’s almost indescribable” by Stephen to Bill, who…
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Thanks, Dad. You taught me well.
My father’s birthday was a couple of days ago. He would have been 91. He died in an auto accident nearly ten years ago. He’s been on my mind a lot this week. As a young boy, I remember the bookshelf in his office. It was filled with books from Norman Vincent Peale, Og Mandino,…