Facing More “Firsts”

In a few hours, I will face another series of “firsts.” My first Thanksgiving without my husband. My first time getting together with several members of his family in Chicago—Charlie’s absence acutely obvious. On top of that, Friday would have been his sixty-second birthday. I’ve shed more than a few tears these past few days. None of this is…

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You’re Not Alone

Recently, I received an email from someone I hadn’t heard from for quite a while. She contacted me after learning of my husband’s death. Catching me up on the last thirty years, she said that other than a few momentary relationships along the way, she’d been alone since her divorce. She wrote, “I have had many emotional struggles dealing…

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In a Single Moment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtXttbkDnHE It’s been two months since I learned my wonderful husband of thirty-eight years, Charlie Farrell, died in his sleep. He was sixty-one years old. The call came at five a.m. When my phone first rang beside the hotel bed I quickly declined it, not recognizing the number. But when it rang again, this time with a dear friend’s…

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