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Surviving the Holidays
Commercials and advertisements between late October until December 24th tell us it’s the most wonderful time of the year. It’s the time to buy presents, share gifts and celebrate the joy of being with your loved ones. It can be a painful, sad, and overwhelming time for those who have suffered a loss. It runs…
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A Village of One
A Village of One I will soon experience my 7th Christmas without my wife, Robyn. With December having arrived, my residence that would have been transformed by Robyn into a Winter Wonderland remains unchanged. While I have plans to decorate, the result, while acceptable, will be missing a key component, her charm. Brothers, we have…
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Home For the Holidays: 2021 Edition
This year I will be experiencing my 7th Christmas without my wife, Robyn. Every year our house would transform into a continuous theme of the current or upcoming holiday. Now, most of those decorations remain in the basement, and my annual complaint of having to haul the countless crates from the basement is no more.…
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Surviving the Holiday Abyss
Everyone will start to tell you within a week of your wife’s passing that you must steel yourself against the trauma of upcoming special days and holidays. We each are likely to have very different experiences during these special days. Much of your reaction will depend upon how important and memorable each of those days…
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Thankful for a Life Well Lived
About a week ago I saw an interview conducted with Steven Roberts husband, widower and best- selling author of a new book about his late wife Cokie Roberts entitled Cokie Roberts: A Life Well Lived. At the start of the interview the interviewer spoke about the impact Cokie Roberts had on her life as a…
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The Fall Season -Nature is Splendiferous!
Splendiferous is a real word that captures the essence of the Fall season. It speaks of the beauty, glamour, majesty, and any adjective you can think of that describes the magnificence of the season. I am blessed to live in Upstate New York. The fall season is the best time of the year. For my…
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Life is for the Living!
Some winning thoughts by Jim Winner Life is for the living! I went to the mountains of Pennsylvania last week to spend Thanksgiving with a few family members. Six of us gathered in my father’s cabin and enjoyed three days of relaxing, visiting, and sharing life. My father died in an automobile accident ten years…
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The Holidays
WSN-MO: Widow-Man with Dr. Nyle Kardatzke When I think of holidays, I think immediately of Thanksgiving and Christmas. My wife died on October 25, so those two holidays were a shock. I didn’t intend to immerse myself in open, emotional grief, but I didn’t want to pretend that nothing had changed. Those holidays were a…
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Thanksgiving 2020
WSN: Some winning thoughts from Jim Winner Is it just me, or is it hard to believe that next Thursday is Thanksgiving? I see and hear of a lot of people struggling as we enter this Holiday season. I understand entirely. COVID-19, quarantine, face-masks, and everything else could make a person wonder how even to…
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Embrace or Escape the Holidays?
WSN: Widower to Widower by Fred Colby One of my mantras as a widower is: “It will never be the same again!” This view is never more apparent than during the holidays. Because holiday memories are so unforgettable and because they are so important to the family as a unit, the loss of your wife…
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