The Widda Sistahood

To The Widda Sista's No Longer in My Life,

We belong to the club that no one wants to be apart of. We have a tremendous amount of losses that go along with loosing a partner. Only you and I understand these losses.

Over the years we have drifted out of each other's lives. Life has taken us on different paths and that is ok.

I want to thank you for the time we were in each others lives.

Thank you for being apart of my story, apart of my journey. Thank you for holding my hand in the darkness. Thank you for sharing tears and laughter with me when we shared stories of our partners. Thank you for trusting me to be vulnerable to share your story, your worries, your fears, your highs and dreams for the future.

Thank you for being supportive of my unique loss. Thank you for not dismissing my relationship with Greg, thank you for not undermining my loss since we were not married and I didn't have a signed piece of paper.

Thank you for giving me opportunities to have a safe space to share my struggles, my loss, my grief, my mourning, my fears, my hopes and my dreams.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to reach out and help others. Through leading small groups for other Unwedded Widows and moderating online chats for those who have lost a partner. Thank you for letting me write my story for your website, journal or article. Thank you for providing me with a platform to share my voice and being an advocate for Unwedded Widows.

Thank you for sharing all your stories with me and entrusting your vulnerability to me. I know some of you struggled with sharing your story with your loved one out in the open for the world to see. Thank you for putting faith in me and in my platform to share your story.

***

Together we shared

Conferences on grief and widowhood,

writing our partners names in the sand,

putting our beloveds tile on a tile board next to hundreds of other tiles

of people gone too soon,

we made new friends online,

some of whom we met in person,

shared memories of our loved ones,

road trips together,

released butterflies together

in honor of our loved one,

let loose and danced together,

wrote articles and stories,

some published and some not,

phone calls in the middle of the night

to keep each other company,

told each other about the new person in our lives,

walked hand in hand while we struggled with

loving two people,

navigated this new normal together,

share the highs and lows of our chapter 2 together,

encouraged each other,

supported each other,

prayed together,

spurred one another on,

until we no longer needed each other in our

new normal.

We let our friendship go

once we were able to cope,

able to function daily,

needed less online support,

built up an in person support community,

needed to put more time into our chapter 2

and into our new normal.

Sometimes life just got in the way and we

drifted apart.

Thank you for the time you were in my life.

Thank you for being apart of my journey.

Thank you for listening and thank you for the memories.

My healing journey was better because you were in it.

While I do not like the reason why we met,

I am forever thankful that we met and that

we were in each other's lives for the time that

we were.

You are a blessing to me.