Back in September, I found the perfect house. It checked all of my boxes: enough space for the kids to each have their own bedrooms, a home office, and a fenced-in backyard. And, as icing on the cake, it’s not only in the kids’ current school zone but also within...
A couple of weeks ago, I decided it was finally time to do a massive purge and start letting go of some of the clutter that had piled up. But each box I opened felt like it contained tiny landmines. Keys still attached to a wristlet that says “Emily.” A book we bought...
Grief can turn places into landmines, but exposure therapy helped me revisit one of the hardest places in my grief journey.
Even though Emily has been gone for two and a half years, I experienced a brand new thing today: she wasn’t the first person I wanted to talk to about a situation. As soon as I realized that someone else crossed my mind to call, I felt the blood leave my face. My...
Earlier this week, I threw a question out into the universe of social media: "If you've lost a spouse, what's something you've learned along your journey that you wish you'd known beforehand (or at least sooner than you did)?If you haven't yet experienced this type of...
I don't know what it is about visiting Knoxville, but I always come home feeling clear-headed and refreshed. I think it's partially all of the time I spend at the cemetery, as it's become a cathartic place for me to spill out all of the thoughts and emotions I'm too...
Yesterday was my birthday. If you read my previous post, then you'll soon realize my birthday is just two days after the day Emily died. That connection in and of itself makes my birthday a very difficult time. However, if you add in the knowledge of how Emily...
Yesterday was the two year anniversary of Emily's death. Like last year, I decided to spend the weekend in Knoxville with her parents. It's been months since I've made the trek, and at first I felt a bit apprehensive. I questioned whether her parents would want me...
As I sat on the couch at my best friends' house this evening, watching one of them pack for an upcoming trip, I said two things that have stuck in my mind for the past few hours: "I can't believe Emily has been dead for two years now." "It feels like I've lived an...