Young Widowed Moms – Healing Hearts
When my best friend called to tell she lost her husband she was 33 and her son was three. It was surreal to hear this devastating news. Her husband had died suddenly while she was out of town with her son visiting family.
She asked me to officiate at the memorial. I remember standing in the front of the room during the service seeing a sea of friends and family dressed in Hawaiian shirts, (his favorite) and rock and roll playing music in the background. Her son played nearby unaware why all of these people had gathered to honor his Dad. I still couldn’t believe he was really gone.
Over the past 30 years I have supported my best friend through her grief and loss as she learned how to be a single mom that she didn’t plan on becoming – the anger, the guilt, and the sadness of being alone to raise her son by herself. Could she survive financially without him? Could she handle the mental, physical and emotional toll all by herself? And she had to face grieving her husband’s loss as well as the loss of their marriage and the future they had planned together including having more children. She was alone in her grief and didn’t have a strong support system to help her get through the difficult times of grieving and loss.
And trying to help her son understand where did daddy go? And when was he coming back? And growing up without a father figure. She wanted to give him financial stability and a permanent home. She worried about her own mortality and what if something happened to her? Then who would look after her son? It increased her sense of responsibility.
I’ve also had my own loss with several members of my family dying from cancer. With each loss it has created a feeling of how precious life is and how little things that used to irritate me no longer matter. I have been mad, sad, nostalgic and lonely wishing they were still here with me. I have deepened my spiritual practice to connect with my family members through meditation and being able to talk about their lives and what they meant to me. I miss them all the time.
I believe meditation is one way to connect to your inner self as well as to your loved ones. I help young widowed moms learn how to connect to their inner selves again, to feel love again, to find hope and learn how to cope in this new reality. Find happiness and purpose and meaning in living again.
I’m offering a FREE five day challenge – “Meditate through Grief” – Teaching young widowed moms to use nap time to heal. June 8-12th – 9 am PST. Please let any young widowed moms you know about this challenge to support them with their grief and loss. Thanks.
