- I was really grateful for your support in the first few days and weeks, but settling into the ‘new normal’ is also really hard; despite how it might look on the outside.
- I love talking about him, I always will.
- I am utterly lonely sometimes, even when people are around.
- Being a single-parent with an involved co-parent isn’t the same as being the “only” parent. I am not saying this doesn’t have its own challenges but it is entirely different – please don’t compare.
- I still don’t know how to answer “how are you doing?”. My answer will almost always be “o.k”. I feel like I need to insulate you from the real answer (sometimes).
- I am happy for your happiness but it often makes me gut-twistingly envious at the same time. It’s hard holding these two feelings at the same time.
- Any linear pattern of grief you’ve ever heard about is absolute tosh. It gets “different” and you adapt to living with it. It doesn’t go, nor would I want it to; it’s the price of love. Lots of love is, in grieving terms, very expensive.
- Sometimes you tell me I’m doing “Very Well”. I don’t know what this means or how to react to it.
- Snakes and Ladders is the board-game that most accurately describes my emotions most of the time.
Youngish Widow 