I often write about grieving and the feelings one can experience when they are in the throes of it. One can never know what it’s like to be in the grip of pain after the loss of a spouse or a loved one unless they have experienced such loss.

Many, in the beginning, feel that the pain is so much a part of them that to give it up would somehow be a betrayal to the those who have passed away. Thus, they suffer silently, or they stuff it away until it rears it’s little head at a later point in time. However, when you think about it, why would your spouse or lost loved one want you to endure the pain of grief for the rest of your life?

The Answer, of Course, Is That They Would Not!

They are no longer here; their lives are done. Those who experience loss are still here to live out the rest of their lives, however long that might be. hey must give themselves a chance to look beyond the horizon and embark on a new adventure. There are so many new opportunities that await those who lose loved ones. It would be a shame to spend the rest of one’s life in mourning and miss out on the possibilities that await.

We Can’t Imagine a Time Without Acute Pain

I certainly couldn’t have imagined that the initial shock from my loss would not be my forever “new normal.” Slowly but surely, as I sought help with my grief journey, I began to surrender to the pain of having lost my husband. Eventually, I found myself embracing the changes that occurred in my life after the loss. In this post, I write about how we can be ready for the changes that inevitably occur and how to become open to a fresh new start, if we so desire. This is not an easy task. In addition, the process of going from grieving to living fully again is different for everyone. It is a journey rife with few highs and many lows.

How a Chance Meeting Changed Our Lives Forever

When I first met the man who would eventually become my husband, it was actually through a series of meetings, not just one. I met him at a summer event in 1987. Initially, I was not especially interested because I’d been meeting him for years and years, and he never seemed to remember who I was.

It always seemed like a “first meeting.” This would eventually become a longstanding joke between the two of us. Later that summer, we met at a barbecue. He took my number, promised to call and did. We went on a date to the movies and became a couple soon after that.

Chuck and I married in June 1991. It was a rainy overcast New York afternoon, but nothing could dim the happiness we shared as we walked down the aisle of St. Paul’s Chapel on the campus of Columbia University in NYC. We decided to get married there because we both had attended Columbia at some point in our academic lives, and it seemed a fitting place to celebrate our momentous occasion.

As the years wore on, Chuck and I experienced a variety of “life­changing events,” which included the diagnosis of Chuck’s mother with Alzheimer’s, the sudden death of his father, the death of my father, Chuck’s own personal struggle with diabetes and all the various hills and valleys that a couple navigates as they grow along together. But, one thing was certain, we loved each other and that love was the glue that kept us close, strong and forever bonded to each other.

In 2007, my husband turned 60. I wanted to do something special to mark the occasion. I began thinking a year in advance about fitting ways to celebrate his milestone birthday. I found a rooftop venue in Manhattan and my son, having recently been discharged from the military, stepped in to plan everything. The day arrived and the event went off like clockwork. Forty of Chuck’s closest friends came to fete him on the deck of this new restaurant, drinks and food flowing. My husband was absolutely shocked as we walked up the steps to his party and he faced 40 of his closest friends singing happy birthday. We then proceeded to party like it was 1999. It was a perfect New York celebration. I felt on top of the world and never felt closer to my husband then at that moment. We had come a long way in our marriage and we were fortunate to have had each other.

Chuck shared with me how happy he was to have me in his life and how I was a gift to him. He said he sometimes felt unworthy of my love and affection. So, that day, on the deck of a beautiful restaurant in Manhattan, we celebrated Chuck’s him. I felt so lucky to be in love with the man I married and I looked forward to our future together… the rest of our lives.

The rest of the year was busy but uneventful. We had family visits around Thanksgiving and we discussed future trip plans for the summer of 2008. As Christmas approached we prepared to celebrate the holiday but around mid-December I came down with the flu and was bedridden. After I recovered my husband came down with the flu, having caught it from me, we assumed. That Christmas of 2007, Chuck was still bedridden, although he managed to get up and join in the festivities and have Christmas dinner. That evening, as my husband was changing clothes, I noticed that he looked like skin and bones. I felt alarmed and I decided to call the doctor the very next day. He was sent immediately to have a CAT scan and two days after Christmas I received a phone call that would change the rest of our lives. The physician told me that he thought he saw something on my husband’s pancreas, a possible tumor. They would have to do more tests in order to confirm what he saw.

My heart stopped. My husband was formally diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in late January 2008. He survived one year from date of diagnosis and died on January 24, 2009. Two Thousand and Eight was the year that I had to put my marriage vows into action, you know the part about “for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, for better or worse.” This was a sickness and this was the worst. We promised each other that we would continue to pray for a miracle. I prayed unceasingly and my husband prayed and journaled his thoughts as he prepared to fight the battle of his life. He would sometimes apologize to me for what he was putting me through. I assured him that he could not ever have imagined this random set of circumstances that would befall our family.

After my husband passed away, the depth of my grief was so overwhelming I could barely breathe. I would sit traumatized in my apartment and gaze into space as I wrestled with feelings of anxiety, numbness, depression, isolation and loneliness. I was in a state of shock.

Eventually, about three months into my “new normal,” I would be able to open up to a grief counselor. From there, I moved on to a bereavement group and as I regained my footing, I decided to put my thoughts about the experience of the aftermath of my husband’s death on paper.

Losing My Husband the Most Pivotal Experience of My Entire Life

I didn’t know how the man I loved and who had loved me back, the one who I expected to be there with me, growing old with me, could be gone, in a moment, just like that. Occasionally, my husband would say to me, “If anything happens to me, you’ll go on, you’ll meet someone better and you’ll be happy again.”

I hated when he would say that, but, I sometimes wondered if he felt that he wouldn’t have a long life. He may have felt that way because of the diabetes, the increasing diabetic episodes that he was beginning to have, or his father’s fairly early death. He wanted to live a long life, but, I’m not sure he believed that he would.

The Dark Days of Grief Were Long and Hard

I felt all alone and, not having had any friends who’d lost a spouse, I felt that I was a pioneer treading new territory. I stumbled a lot, cried unceasingly and unapologetically, confiding only in a few.

But, those few compassionate and empathetic people listened and listened to me over and over again. They did so without exasperation, with patience, kindness and love. It would be seven years after my husband passed away that I would begin to feel almost like that period in my life, losing Chuck, had been another lifetime, another life, another me.

Chuck and I were two people in love with each other traveling our life’s journey together. After his death the road I traveled to get past the grief and pain was long and hard, full of twists and turns. But, I discovered so much about myself, my new self, in the process. I was starting fresh, a clean slate, and even though I was alone, I became determined to get through my sorrow and begin my new life. It took a long time, but slowly I was able to rebuild my life bit by bit.

My new life that I’ve created for myself does not resemble my former life with Chuck, and I’ve come to the realization that it shouldn’t have. If it did I would always be dragging the shadow of my past along with me. As I moved my life forward I didn’t want to risk overshadowing my present with my past.

In the eighth year AC (After Chuck), I decided to remove many of the pictures of my husband that I had around my home although one or two remained. I noticed on social media, as I looked at the comments and the stories that people shared about losing a husband, losing a child, losing a parent that there is one common theme: “they never want to forget” or “they never want to betray the love of the lost loved one.” I too felt that way in the initially, but one day, after years of grief and healing, with time having softened the blow, I felt that my life with my husband was a part of my former life. The emotions and the feelings of love, joy, sadness and sorrow are now a part of my memories. It now feels like another lifetime. Today, surprisingly, I’m grateful for that period in my life as it taught me so much about life, love, death and rebirth, and I grew in ways too numerous to count. But, I realized, that that time was over and it was a place where I did not want to remain.

I loved my husband with my whole being. We came through the worst of the worst together. He died and I remained. However, now, I am no longer who I once was with him and I’ve continued remaining open to life’s new possibilities. In the end I’ve decided to embrace the new life I’d been handed looking back wistfully, but looking forward revived, refreshed and renewed.

Have you suffered a catastrophic loss that left you frozen in place? Some people are afraid to let go of the pain of loss. What are some things that you have done to move your life forward after loss? Have you been surprised by the new life that you have created after losing a spouse? Leave comments, share your story.