6 Things About Loss That This Widow Wishes You Knew

While it doesn’t make headlines like some awareness days, May 3 has been proclaimed National Widows Day. A faith-based Kansas City nonprofit called Wednesday Widows is behind the day, which began in 2014. The rest of the year, each Wednesday, this group sends handymen and hand-holders to the homes of grieving widows and widowers who need help.  It’s great that so many people have adopted widows like me as a cause, but if a well-intentioned do-gooder called me up with an offer to repair my screens or fix my leaky toilet, I’d likely hang up on them.  Why? Because that’s not what I need from the world right now.  I lost my husband to a chronic illness four months ago. The average length of time U.S. widows have been alone is 14 years, according to Census data, so I’m a relative newbie to the club. But as I tell people, after more than a year of intense caregiving in which I lost my husband in small bits, I feel like I’ve been without him for a whole lot longer.  Still, I’m all for supporting those who need and want support ― with a few caveats. 1. Widows are not monolithic. There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to losing a loved one. All losses are not the same, nor do we all grieve the same way. Some of us shun grief counseling and others gravitate to it and hang on for dear life.  So don’t assume you know how we are feeling. Trust me, half the time we don’t even know...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news