Loving this Moment – this month’s blog on the Hope for Widow’s website

It’s the beginning of my eighth week of isolation – quarantining during the coronavirus pandemic. It’s a beautiful sunny day in Michigan. I can finally see summer around the corner! My mood is as sunny as the day, because I’m getting ready to visit my two youngest grandsons.

This decision wasn’t made lightly. My son, daughter-in-law, and I have weighed the pros and cons. Yes, social distancing is important, and we’ve all heeded the constraints for the past seven weeks. I’ve had contact with no one, except for Teams meeting with coworkers, Zoom canasta nights and happy hours, and Facetime chats with other loved ones. I haven’t left my house, except for three drives to the local park, where I sat in my car alone watching the geese on the lake.

My son’s family (he, his wife, and my 3- and 5-year-old grandsons) have also remained isolated, having groceries delivered and working from home. My son has gone out for fast food or grocery pick up a few times, but wore his mask and observed social distancing, then his wife even washed food containers when he brought them into the house. I think we should be safe. Fingers crossed.

So, today is the big day. I’m going to get some hugs! Some little boy hugs and cuddles!

Read the blog on the Hope for Widows website.

About the author

Katherine Billings Palmer is a technical writer, poet, and essayist from Garden City, Michigan. She’s won several academic writing awards, including first place in the University of Michigan Dearborn Critical Essay Contest for her work about poet John Donne: “‘The Sun Rising’: A Lover’s Boast.”

In 2017, Katherine’s husband, Rick, died of complications from small cell lung cancer. She wrote a series of poems and essays about her struggles to cope with her grief. I Wanted to Grow Old With You is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions.

Her latest book, A Widow’s Words: Grief, Reflection, Prose, and Poetry – The First Year was published in January 2019 and is also available on Amazon.com.

Katherine is a guest blogger for the Hope for Widows Foundation and writes about her grief journey at www.TheWritingWidow.com.

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