How one woman used #running to help survive the loss of her husband and raise two boys on her own.
Ten years ago today my husband, Gordie, died suddenly. Sometimes I feel like he has been gone for 50 years. Sometimes I feel like he has only been gone 50 days. My sons and I have moved forward with our lives but it has been a rough road. Here are ten things I’ve learned in the ten years I have been a Widow. 1) It…
How would you like to wake up tomorrow and not have your spouse lying next to you…ever again? How would you like to wake up tomorrow and not hear your child laugh…ever again? How would you like to wake up tomorrow and not have your Mom or Dad to call and ask a question…ever again? How would you like your kids to wake up tomorrow…
If I had not met my late husband, Gordie, in San Francisco in 1996, I would not have married him in 2001. If I had not married him in 2001, I would not have been widowed in 2012. If I had not been widowed in 2012, I would likely still be married. If I were still married, I would not have spent the past seven Christmases as a solo parent. If I were not a widow, I would have lots of help with everything Christmas.
My Mom died last month. Unexpectedly. Once again, I have been stunned and devastated by death. But this time my Mom is not here to help me.
My oldest son started high school this week and his Dad was not here to guide him through it. My sons and I have learned to live without Gordie but it’s times like these where we are reminded of the severe injustice that was forced upon us. It is times like these where we fall a few steps backward in our journey through grief. It is times like these where life is a little tougher for us. It is times like these where I am once again pissed at God. It’s times like these where I need to run it out, or right now while I am nursing a running injury, swim it out.
Several days later, it hit me. I have my own Come Back story. My sons have their own Come Back story. Every Widow has her own Come Back story. Our stories are not as great as Jesus’ Come Back story but they are pretty damn impressive.
I realized that since my husband died in 2012, I have been surviving, not thriving. I am ready to change that.
#thriving #survivingtothriving #keeprunning #runningthroughgrief
What I saw actually caused me to stumble a couple of steps. The clouds were in the form of a giant, wide Cross. The Cross looked like it was shooting up from behind the mountain and straight into the sky. #afterlife #proofofheaven
It has been six years since the tragedy at Sandy Hook and there have been numerous mass shootings since then. I continue to experience extreme sadness every time there is a shooting. However, none of them have affected me as strongly as Sandy Hook. Perhaps Sandy Hook affected me more because my son was the same age as those children. Perhaps it was because it was the first big mass shooting after losing my husband. I don’t know. All I know is that I still, six years later, think about the children whose lives were lost that day and their parents. #runningthroughgrief #sandyhook #rememberingsandyhook #grief
