Six months after my husband’s sudden death, my heart receives another stab wound, and I get another kick to my head as I read the pamphlet sent from a well-intended, anonymous do-gooder

It is an invitation for a singles group.  What an awful thing to send me, who would do this?  I am never going to marry again…Chris was my first true love and I was 18 when we met; I don’t have the energy to even think about dating!  Well, maybe I might start dating once my son Matt starts school in three years, but not before.

I share the rambling of my thoughts with my friend Cheryl and tell her about these cruel realities of being a young widow.  She listens, doesn’t try to solve my problems, and although she takes the brunt of my anger, she never pulls away.   

Cheryl is a nurse I met while working at the hospital; therefore, she also knows the pharmacist Tom (mentioned in my last post).  She gets to know Tom’s friend Jeff when she changes jobs and now works at the same hospital Jeff does. 

 Like Tom, Cheryl has been with us both as we have muddled through our rollercoaster of emotions during our grief.  She has listened to our dark tales of what it is like without our spouse and how we try to keep plodding ahead for our toddlers.

 She shares Jeff’s stories with me and offers his name and number as a resource in the future.  I file the information in my basket of junk that sits near my phone – never taking it out again…