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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…
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Fun Activities to DO with Your Grandchildren
Grieving and Thanksgiving 2018 With the approach of Thanksgiving, I can’t help but think back to Thanksgiving 2012, my very first holiday following my husband’s sudden death. The grief fog was still very thick. Numbness created a comforting cushion around my body and emotions. My husband had died in August. By the time November arrived,…
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Widower: The Importance of Empathy to Healing Grief
Widower: The Importance of Empathy to Healing Grief Empathy is critical to healing grief. For me, it was second only to gratitude as a skill that I had to develop to pull myself out of the deep depression and suffering I experienced during the first year of my grieving. After losing my wife of 45…
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Widower: Helping A New Widower on Father’s Day
If your dad recently became a widower, there are ways you can help him on Father’s Day. Fathers who are newly minted widowers on Father’s Day are apt to be in the throes of intense loneliness, self-doubt, and possibly caught up in regrets and self-recrimination. This can lead to self-isolation and depression if not addressed.…
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Widower: When Can I Stop Grieving?
When I ask former members of my Men’s Grief Group why they stopped coming to the group, the most common response is, “I just did not want to grieve anymore, and the groups became a downer after I had begun to feel better.” I often hear the same story from widows, who had stopped attending…
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Boy’s Don’t Cry…right? WRONG! And That’s Okay
by Herb Knoll Author: The Widower’s Journey From the time little boys are first able to walk, in some cases even before they can walk, parents begin shaping the psyche of their sons by telling them, “Boys don’t cry. ” Oh really… who says so? Whoever it was, they should be picked up and prosecuted for the harm they…
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Widower 101: More Key Learnings
Recently I shared four things that I have learned since becoming a widower. In this article, I would like to continue to share a few additional thoughts on this issue. For each one of us, this list may be different. As I write in my book The First 365, a loss is the ultimate designer…
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Widower: How Grief Changes Us
Grief, really deep grief, can change you! I see examples of this change through my men’s grief group, responses to my online blogs, online widowers groups, and chance meetings I have with fellow widowers in my community. This change does not happen overnight, it can take months if not years to happen. Many are shocked…
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Widower: Experiences All the Same??
WSN-MO: Widower to Widower with Fred Colby One thing I have learned since my wife passed over three years ago, is that much in my experience has common elements with that of other widowers, but we each also have some very unique components in our individual journeys. Discovering our common elements provides comfort and encouragement…
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Grieving is hard. It’s Sad. It’s a lot of work!
Grieving is hard. It’s sad. It’s a lot of work! After Tony died, if anyone had said to me, “There will ultimately be a positive side to his sudden death” – I think I would have punched them in the nose. What I’ve learned since then through my own resilience (and the resilience I see…
Widowers Support Network 