The Joyful Widower

Ruminations on grief, joy, love, and the cross


Melinda

  • 10,000 Days

    A few months ago, a friend of mine recommended downloading an app that can count up from a date in the past, telling you how many days it’s been since that date. He said that looking at the number of days since his first wife died not as how many days since the last time Continue reading

  • Pascha! And then…

    Pascha is the apex of Christian worship. It is the Queen of Feasts, the ultimate joy that we share. Orthodox christians around the world gather shortly before midnight Saturday night in order to begin the services as early in the day of Sunday as possible, and we sing and pray for 3 hours. And then Continue reading

  • “Time heals all wounds!” Oh, please…

    Dear Griever, Perhaps someone (or many someones) has said to you “time heals all wounds.” Perhaps you’ve said it to someone else (in which case, forgive me for what I’m about to say). Ahem. BS. Time does not heal all wounds. Rather, time gives you the opportunity to work out the healing (or not). The Continue reading

  • The Alchemy of Grief

    The Elixir Teach me, my God and King,          In all things Thee to see, And what I do in anything          To do it as for Thee.           Not rudely, as a beast,          To run into an action; But still to make Thee prepossest,          And give it his perfection.           A man that looks on glass,          On it may stay his eye; Or if he pleaseth, Continue reading

  • Ready or Not…

    After one of the premarital counseling sessions Melinda and I had with Fr. Stephen Freeman, he commented as we were leaving that, barring the unusual circumstances where a husband and wife die together, one spouse will survive the other. He certainly didn’t need to repeat it later when Tracy and I met with him for Continue reading

  • Same song, second verse…

    I’ve been absent from writing for quite a while now. It’s been difficult to do a lot of things that aren’t strictly necessary. I’ve kept my kids and myself fed, dressed, and housed, and I’ve gotten us to appointments and obligations, mostly on time. I’ve gotten myself to work. Apart from that, not much else. Continue reading