I stayed up really late last night, maybe subconsciously to avoid waking up to today. One year ago today, I lost my husband. I hate that sentence. I hate the part before the comma and I certainly hate the part after the comma. I hate today. I hate the memories of a year ago today. As I slept,  I reached for his hand, and it wasn’t there to hold. That startled me awake. It perfectly summarizes the beginning of year two though. The start of the second year has also caused me to pause and reflect back on my first year as a widow. I needed to identify any progress I made in order to figure out how I am going to deal with my sophomore year in grief. So here it is boiled down to ten things I learned in my first year as a widow. Survival is possible. The first days and weeks after losing my husband I wasn’t sure how I’d survive, or if I even wanted to. Losing my spouse crumbled my foundation and the pain was unbearable at times. I look back now and see that although it wasn’t pretty, it serves as proof that … Continue reading My First Year as a Widow – Ten Things I Learned