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Isolation Kills, Stay Connected
Jasmine was first admitted to the hospital at the height of the COVID pandemic and placed in isolation, which meant no visitors allowed. I had been recovering at home from my bout with COVID. Four days later, I drove an hour to the hospital to be re-examined (I had COVID pneumonia). After my exam, I requested permission…
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Spring Ahead with Gratitude
Spring weather has finally arrived for those of us who live in the Northeastern part of the United States. In Upstate New York, the last vestiges of snow are disappearing, and I can see glimpses of slightly green grass. Warmer temperatures will change my mood after a long winter of cold and dark days. However,…
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The Fourth Turn
By Michael K. Burroughs I had just turned 71 when my dear wife, Jan, passed away. We were four months shy of our 52nd Anniversary. Her doctors never expected her to make it to our 50th, following her third stroke that made her an invalid. They expected another stroke at any time, as she had…
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The Grief Club: My strength and hope
I never imagined that I would be a member of this group at age sixty-three. It’s a group no one wants to join, but circumstances, the loss of a loved one, put me into this club. You and I are part of a group of strangers, most of whom we would never have…
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What We Share with Fellow Widowers
Author, Widower to Widower By Fred Colby All widowers have something in common… we are going, or have gone, through hell on earth. We may have different experiences on this journey, but we also have many commonalities… especially if we were fortunate enough to have a good loving marriage. We can support each other by…
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Reaching for Help
An Excerpt from The Widower’s Journey (Taken from Chapter 2) As I said at the beginning of this chapter, grief means we’ve been cut off from a relationship that brought us all kinds of emotional benefits. Part of our recovery is finding sources of emotional support that will help assuage the sting of that loss.…
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Learning From Each Other
All widowers… you, me, the guy down the street… we all have something in common… we are going, or have gone, through hell on earth. We may have different experiences on this journey, but we also have many commonalities… especially if we were fortunate enough to have a good loving marriage. We can support each…
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Winning Thursday Thoughts from Jim Winner
____________________________________________ Today marks day 214 since my Joyce died. Even though she was sick for seven months, and we knew for a month, she was going to lose her battle with cancer, I had no idea of what real grief would be like. For the first three months, I seriously questioned not how I would…
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Why Widowed Men Are Different from Widows
We widowed men have much in common with widows, our sisters in grief. Like widows, we have lost our spouses, the loves of our lives. They have had experiences of loss like ours: shock, disorientation, grief, and loneliness. We have much in common with female widows, and we can be more empathetic now. But our…
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I Am A Widow-man
When I became a widowed man, I wondered what to call myself. “Widow” is usually applied only to women, but why can’t a man be a widow? Why accept the implied accusation when you are called a “widower?” Long before I lost my wife, I rankled quietly at the term “widower,” and it still sounds…
Widowers Support Network 