It’s that time of year again. The season that used to crush me, keep me from going out in public, avoiding Valentine’s Day.
Today, I’ve accepted that Valentine’s Day will never mean what it once did before experiencing the trauma of a hit and run car accident that took the life of my beloved Chad. For years, I battled internally, emotionally through the first few weeks of the year. The amount of energy it took to sustain emotional regulation is the part no one could see. The tears I had to hold back so I could keep going in public. The pins and needles I was constantly on. The hits kept coming everywhere I turned — grocery store, magazines, social media, mailings…
Red and pink hearts were everywhere, catching me off guard, impossible to evade. Frustrating.
The only choice was to learn over the years how to respond differently. How to transform the grief waves into growth. It took decades to be unfazed, un-traumatized.
This is why I am a widow advocate today. I’ve walked this journey and e…
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