Some friends and I celebrated my birthday recently. This included a light spread of some mixed nuts, brie and crackers, wine, champagne, cake… the usual party fare. Three friends abstained from the wine and champagne and opted for a mocktail of cherry juice instead — “It’s supposed to help with…

On Living Life Off the Mat — I am not a team player, or a joiner, or someone who likes to participate in large group activities. Which is why it takes every fiber of my being to get to a yoga class. Every single time. For the past almost 15 years. It’s not that I don’t like…

My husband’s 59th birthday is this week and even though Joel died a few months after he turned 50, I find myself wondering, “How could I be married to someone so old?!” …

And I’m trying every single one. — I haven’t been feeling well since I got back from my daughter’s college graduation last month. At first, I thought it was emotional exhaustion. The event itself was joyous and full of love, but my daughter and I, as well as other family there to support her, all felt the…

My boyfriend allows space for my husband and I am awed by it. — My boyfriend and I went to the Van Gogh immersive exhibit the other day. There was an almost dizzying feeling the minute we walked in, like those virtual rides at Disneyland that make you feel off-balanced. We were happy to take a seat on one of the benches to steady…

Do you remember your wedding day? Do you remember if you saw your spouse that morning or was it just for photos before the ceremony? Or was it not until the moment when you both said, “I do”? Do you remember the reception very well? The food that was served…

I recently received a new gift from my late husband. An iPad. I have been using his since he died almost 9 years ago and it was just time. Games paused mid-move, the battery hardly held a charge. I like that Joel’s iPad has his apps and contacts and password…

It’s been eight years since he died, and his birthday hit me especially hard this year — We celebrated my husband’s fifty-eighth birthday recently, although he never turned older than fifty. That’s how old he was when he died: fifty years and almost three months. I have shared extensively about Joel and losing him to MS (Multiple Sclerosis) and the West Nile virus. …