Carole Brody Fleet - Widows Wear Stilettos: A Practical and Emotional Guide for the Young Widow

Widows Wear Stilettos: A Practical and Emotional Guide for the Young Widow — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Widows Wear Stilettos: A Practical and Emotional Guide for the Young Widow" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...48

Table of Contents

Authors Note

This book is not intended to treat physical or emotional illness. All matters regarding personal health require medical supervision. A professional psychotherapist, counselor or other professional should be contacted in the case of prolonged symptoms and inability to function. Consultation with a medical doctor, a physical therapist and a nutritionist before committing to any exercises and recipes implemented in this publication is recommended.

For purposes of simplifying usage, the pronouns his or her and he or she are sometimes used interchangeably. The information, ideas, and suggestions contained in this book are not intended to replace any necessary therapy with mental health professionals.

All suggestions regarding medical, financial and legal subject matter are based upon the information, belief and personal opinions of Carole Brody Fleet with Syd Harriet, Ph.D., Psy.D. only and should not be construed as directed advice.

The strategies, exercises, diets and procedures in this book should be discussed with professionals in the appropriate fields.

Any application of the recommendations set forth in this book is at the readers discretion and sole risk.

DEDICATION

This book is lovingly dedicated to:

All widows everywhere; may your healing journeys be enhanced and enriched and may your hearts and spirits be lifted and made stronger by the words in this book.

The Team
My amazing mother, Eilene,
who gave me life;
and my beautiful daughter,
Kendall Leah,
who completed my life.
Without both of you, I could never be me
and I love you more than words will ever truly convey.

My father, Elvin Clink Clinkenbeard, of blessed memory.
February 2, 1923 - May 23, 2001
Daddy, thank you for blessing me with the joking sparkle in your eyes
and the warmth in your heart.
I am indeed now and will always be
Daddys Little Girl.

And to the late,
the great,
the inimitable
Michael Alan Fleet, Sr.,
of blessed memory.
July 21, 1945 - December 19, 2000
For your unconditional love
and for teaching me the true definition of courage.
Your legacy lives.
Always and Forever Riding High
With my undying love.

INTRODUCTION

December 21, 2000. The sun was setting on a stereotypically beautiful California afternoon. Dozens of police officers stood at rapt attention; some with tears streaming down their faces, belying their attempts at stoicism. The soft moan of bagpipes echoed the traditional Amazing Grace over the hillsides. Several hundred more people stood staring at the flag-draped coffin with identically numb expressionscomplete and utter disbelief. In one of my few moments of lucidity that day, watching this moment unfold as if it were happening to someone else and while holding tightly to our then-eleven-year-old daughters hand, one lone thought continued to play over and over in my head:

Im a widow.

Widowed. In my mind, widows are older, retired, with grown children and grandchildren. Widows are married for years and years and enjoy a rich, full and storied life with their spouse. Widows sport gray hair, live in retirement communities and go on a lot of cruises. Widows wear sensible shoes and entertain with stories of the good old days (penny candy, dime movies and Uncle Miltie) or the bad old days (the Depression and, to paraphrase Bill Cosbys classic skit about his father, Walking to school uphill both ways in ten feet of snow.)

Conversely, Im the last of the Baby Boomer generation. I came of age during Vietnam, Womens Rights and Watergate, pet rocks and puka shells, Led Zeppelin and lava lamps. My generation is post-Pill and pre-AIDS; ours is the generation that witnessed the birth of the microwave oven, the personal computer and the VCR and that remembers a life without MTV, cell phones, the Internet or reality television (well, unless you count The Dating Game).

Widowed? Impossible. I wear low-rise pants and miniskirts. Stiletto heels are the mainstay of my always-expanding wardrobe, and in fact, even the license plates on my car pay homage to my almost-fanatical love of all things footwear. I know all of the words to the Rocky Horror Picture Showand not just the songs. My CD collection is heavily laden with 1970s disco and heavy metal and 1980s new wave, pop-punk and hair band music. Shopping is my zen. Id rather dance than breathe. I love laughing till it hurts at comedy clubs and taking frequent trips to Las Vegas. I enjoy lemon drop martinis at sunset and a champagne cocktail with dinner (OK, I know the latter is a 1950s-era drink, but still). My daughter and I share clothes and cheeseburgers, girly time and giggles.

Yet Im a widow.

Widowed. An impossible concept; an even more preposterous reality to embrace. Still, at only forty years old, I was widowedwith a child to raise, mortgages to pay, the same pile of bills that every family in America has sitting on their respective desks, while in the midst of a veritable tornado of emotions and absolutely no idea how to transition into this new and unexpected life.

I attempted to seek support from others in my not-so-common position; those who were widowed at a young age with children to raise and a sizeable chunk of life still in front of themand found none. All of the widow/widower organizations, while certainly worthwhile, boasted membership consisting primarily of people in the somewhat older, here-are-pictures-of-my-grandchildren age group.

The Internet? The groups that I found were either determined to discuss nothing but their dear departed and ONLY their dear departed (which is fine for a little while, but certainly inhibits ones moving forward with life) or they were looking for dates, hardly what I needed at that season in my life.

Books? There are a lot of books out there; wonderful books on widowhood, grieving, loss, coping, coping with loss, coping with grieving, coping with widowhood, but none that I found dealt with both the practical issues of widowhood (whom to contact and how, what paperwork youll need and helpful resources) and the many emotional issues that are particular to young widows.

In this book, I deal with many of the problems facing widows; therefore, much of what is written applies to widows of all ages. However, I have sought to explore issues that are specific to young widows, such as helping young and adolescent children transition and function in a world where everyone has a dad except me; re-entering the world of dating at a time when the large majority of your friends are married with families of their own; functioning as a single in a couples world without feeling like the cruise director on Noahs Ark; becoming sexually active again (or not); remarrying (or not); and so many other issues that affect women who are widowed at a young age.

Though you may feel all alone as a young widow, it is an unfortunate fact that the population of young widows has grown suddenly and dramaticallythere are literally millions of us. It is indeed for those women to whom the title of widow has come far too soon that this book is intended. It is for those women to whom till death do us part happened long before it was ever expected; whether by long-term illness, sudden illness, accident or tragic circumstance.

Next page

1234567...48

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Widows Wear Stilettos: A Practical and Emotional Guide for the Young Widow»

Look at similar books to Widows Wear Stilettos: A Practical and Emotional Guide for the Young Widow. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

Carol W. Cornish

The Undistracted Widow: Living for God After Losing Your Husband

Jan Robinson

Tips from Widows

Miriam Neff

From One Widow to Another: Conversations on the New You

Joann Filomena

Widowed: Moving Through the Pain of Widowhood to Find Meaning and Purpose in Your Life Again

Leslie Gray Streeter

Black Widow: A Sad-Funny Journey Through Grief for People Who Normally Avoid Books with Words Like Journey in the Title

Ruth Rigby

Widow Wisdom: How Grief Made Room For Happiness

Mary Essinger

How to be a Merry Widow: life after death for the older lady

Carole Fleet

Happily Even After: A Guide to Getting Through (and Beyond) the Grief of Widowhood

Genevieve Davis Ginsburg

Widow to Widow: Thoughtful, Practical Ideas for Rebuilding Your Life

Mary Francis

The Sisterhood of Widows: Sixteen True Stories of Grief, Anger and Healing

Linda Feinberg

Im Grieving as Fast as I Can: How Young Widows and Widowers Can Cope and Heal

Kristin Meekhof

A Widows Guide to Healing: Gentle Support and Advice for the First 5 Years

Discussion, reviews of the book Widows Wear Stilettos: A Practical and Emotional Guide for the Young Widow and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.