I’m a poet, essayist, and retired technical writer from Garden City, Michigan. I’m also a guest contributor to the Hope for Widows Foundation website, a wonderful resource and comfort for widows.
On August 13, 2017, I lost the love of my life. Rick Palmer and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary one month before he died at age 63 of complications from treatments for small cell lung cancer. He was my partner and soulmate, the love I had been looking for and finally found at age 40.
Rick was a talented writer and web designer and, in 2002, we began our own web and print design business. We worked together building the business and enjoyed traveling, writing, and playing together. Our dream was to spend our golden years together doing more of the same, but in the ten months from diagnosis to death, that dream shattered.
After Rick’s death, I quickly realized that the enormity of his loss was too much for me to handle on my own, so I began grief therapy. I also began writing through my grief in a journal of feelings, thoughts, memories, and poetry. As I navigate my new life alone, I share my journey and my efforts towards creating my “new normal” on this blog. I’m also on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
My poetry book, I Wanted to Grow Old With You, is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions and in color format on Barnes and Noble.com. I’ve also published two books containing compilations of my blogs and essays, A Widow’s Words: Grief, Reflection, Prose, and Poetry – The First Year and A Widow’s Words, Year Two: Grief, Reflection, Prose, Poetry, and Hope. Both are available on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.
In early 2024, I published a memoir composed of more than one hundred poems and essays that explore my life, inner conflict, and eventual journey to self-acceptance. My Story: A Memoir in Poetry and Prose is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.