Category Archives: Monday Mourning Widow Series

Mental Health: 4 Steps for Controlling Anxiety

  November 10, 2014 - 7:00 am | ,
16 Comments

For your convenience, this post with 4 Steps for Controlling Anxiety contains affiliate links that support Me Plus 3 Today at no additional cost to you. Thanks! I know that talking about anxiety, depression, and mental health can be kind of a taboo. But I’m just letting you know that I completely disagree with that, and I do my best to be open and honest about it. I mean, think about it… Physical health is openly discussed, like eating healthier, exercising, and getting regular physical check-ups. We brush, floss, and visit the dentist twice each year for our dental health. … Continue reading →

6 Things Married Couples Need to do to Prepare for Unlikely Death of a Spouse

  October 27, 2014 - 8:00 am | ,
5 Comments
6 Things Married Couples Need to do to Prepare for Unlikely Death of a Spouse

For your convenience, this post to help married couples prepare for death of spouse may contain affiliate links. I don’t think there is anybody that enjoys talking about the possibility of losing a loved one, especially their spouse. But unfortunately, death is something that will eventually happen to all of us. And what if it happens much, MUCH sooner than you had ever thought possible? Are you prepared? Based on my experience, I think there are 6 things that married couples NEED to do RIGHT NOW to prepare for the unlikely death of a spouse. I know, it is very … Continue reading →

Monday Mourning Widow Series #8: Lessons Learned – Stop Existing, Start Living

  October 20, 2014 - 6:30 am | ,
7 Comments

This post contains affiliate links and I will make a small commission off any purchases from those links, at no additional charge to you. Sometimes I wish I could shout from the roof tops the lessons I’ve learned from losing my husband, Chaz. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to explain them. Because really, you don’t know, until you know. I want to tell people to stop just existing through life. And tell them to start living their life instead! I learned that old cliche, “Life Is Short.” It’s too short to just exist. Why settle for mediocre, for just OK, … Continue reading →

The “In Between” – Monday Mourning Widow Series

  October 5, 2014 - 11:26 pm | ,
6 Comments

As I’m sure you can imagine, wedding anniversaries as a widow are extremely difficult days to endure. Last year, our wedding anniversary was actually the first “holiday” I had to go through after Chaz passed away. Needless to say, It. Was. Horrible. Now I’m on to the “seconds.” The second wedding anniversary without Chaz was actually a few weeks ago, on September 16. I wanted to write about it sooner, but I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to say about it. But I finally decided that I could use the reflections I had on that day as a reminder, … Continue reading →

Monday Mourning Widow Series #6: 5 Worries of a Single Mom

  September 28, 2014 - 9:00 pm | , ,
2 Comments

Last week, I was honored when Natasha from Epic Mommy Adventures asked me to write a guest post about single parenting for her blog series during National Unmarried and Single Americans Week. I am so glad that the organization that promotes this week added the term “Unmarried” to the title. Because as a widow, I would rather describe myself with that word than as “single.” Although really, I actually still consider myself married. I still wear my wedding ring. And I still refer to Chaz as my husband. I’m not sure if, or when, that will every go away. But I do … Continue reading →

Monday Mourning Widow Series #5: 6 Online Resources for Widows

  September 21, 2014 - 11:20 pm | ,
10 Comments

As a widow, it’s impossible to not feel alone. I know that I’m not. I have plenty of supportive family and friends. But I can never completely shake that empty, lonely feeling in my chest. Obviously the main cause of feeling so incredibly alone is the fact that I lost my husband. My other half. My partner in crime. My best friend. The terms of endearment could go on and on. But it’s also because there is nobody that completely gets it. My family and friends have been great through all of this, but they just can’t completely relate or … Continue reading →

Monday Mourning Widow Series #4 – “Butterfly Fly Away”

  September 8, 2014 - 12:17 am | ,
3 Comments

For this week’s Monday Mourning Widow Series post, I have a story to share that happened a few weeks ago. I originally shared it on my personal Facebook page in a much more crude form, but I cleaned it up and decided to post it here! A few weeks ago, something incredibly beautiful and almost unbelievable happened to the kids and me.  It was Thursday, August 7, which happened to be the the day after the “1-year mark” since Chaz’s death. Thursday is one my days off from work, so I am home with the kids. And even though the day before had … Continue reading →

Good Quote, Bad Quote – Monday Mourning Widow Series

  August 24, 2014 - 9:27 pm | ,
5 Comments

In the days, weeks, and months after my husband, Chaz, died, I would spend my lonely evenings browsing Pinterest. I would search for and read an endless amount of poems and quotes about grief and loss. And I would cry my eyes out the entire time. It was almost therapeutic for me. Disclosure: For your convenience, this post contains affiliate links. I suddenly found that I could so easily relate to these heartbreaking words. It seemed as if each one illustrated exactly what I was feeling. They opened me up, and allowed the grief and sadness to come pouring out. While I … Continue reading →

5+ Ideas to Help a Widow – Monday Mourning Widow Series

  August 17, 2014 - 9:34 pm | ,
4 Comments

Well, it’s now been over 1 year since my husband, Chaz, passed away. Like I mentioned in my One Year of Loss post, I just can not find the right words to describe how I feel about that. Despite that, I have been doing a lot of reflecting on the past year. In the weeks immediately following his passing, people would ask “How can I help?” or “What do you need?” But at the time, those questions seemed impossible to answer. There wasn’t a single person that could give me what I needed, because what I needed was my husband … Continue reading →

Monday Mourning Widow Series #1: Bad Days

  August 11, 2014 - 11:07 pm | ,
6 Comments

In my post about One Year of Loss, I mentioned that I was going to begin a series specifically about widowhood. Well, ta-da! Here it is! 🙂 Posts for this series will go up each Monday. This was so I could be super creative and use my alliteration skills… Hence, it’s called the Monday Mourning Widow Series! (Yeah, I said “hence.” Fancy, huh?) What I am about to share for the first post of the series, was actually written about 2.5 weeks ago. I’ve had it in draft status because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to share it. But … Continue reading →

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