I originally wrote this on my first Valentine’s Day as a widow. The sentiments haven’t really changed even though I’m now facing my 7th Valentine’s Day as a widow.

Valentines. They used to be lopsided hearts cut out of pink and red construction paper messily glued on to a homemade card with paper doilies and glitter. Or little cards with Be Mine sayings attached to candy, placed into the sacks of each classmate and then eagerly scoured for the sweets and perhaps a special note while eating sugar cookie hearts and drinking red Kool-aid.

I can still remember the first Valentine I received from Larry. We had known each other for only 3 weeks but we were already very much in love. The card was very simple. The front was covered with pictures of the little candy hearts with phrases on them. Right in the middle of the card was a yellow heart with the words, ‘Marry Me’ on it. Two weeks and three days later Larry invited me to marry him. He’d actually created an invitation asking me to marry him. You see, he’d asked me why I hadn’t moved from Colorado to Michigan yet and I told him that it was because I had not been invited. He always picked up on little comments like that and stored them for future surprises. Every year after that, Larry would give me roses and a Valentine card that expressed his love for me and I would give one to him. We always gave each other cards that expressed our thankfulness to God for bringing us together and our joyful anticipation of the many years ahead. We never anticipated that those years would be cut short by brain cancer.

This year I’m facing my first solo Valentine’s Day in 15 years. I decided a few weeks ago that even though I would not be receiving a Valentine from my dear husband I could still take one to him. Sort of. I had a Valentine wreath made and took it to the cemetery. It hasn’t made this Hallmark holiday any easier to deal with emotionally though. This was not a day that I was expecting to bring this much pain. To be honest, I hadn’t even thought of Valentine’s Day in the list of dreaded firsts. I’d skipped right over it.

Aisles of cards, heart shaped cookies and cakes, bouquets of roses, TV ads featuring loving couples exchanging cards and beautiful gifts of sparkling jewelry – everywhere I look I see reminders that I am once again on the outside looking in. I’m no long the unpopular girl at school who didn’t receive the special valentine or the special note, but I’m no longer part of a “we” either.

This holiday is for children and couples. Being torn out of my status as wife – half of “we” – makes this even more difficult to cope. This was not my choice. Every reminder that I no longer qualify for couples only events brings back the loneliness of my widowhood. No Sweetheart Dance for me, no card with the tender words of love from the man that I love and miss so much that I ache with it.

Valentine’s Day may seem trivial as holidays go. A day made up for the sole purpose of spending money. I disagree. The money isn’t the purpose of Valentine’s Day. What is important about Valentine’s Day is that you are intentional about taking the time, finding a meaningful way to communicate to the most important person in your life, the other half of your “we,” that you love them, that you love being married to them or just love having them in your life. Everyday should be Valentine’s Day.

So God Made a Mother book by Leslie Means

If you liked this, you'll love our book, SO GOD MADE A MOTHER available now!

Order Now

Check out our new Keepsake Companion Journal that pairs with our So God Made a Mother book!

Order Now
So God Made a Mother's Story Keepsake Journal

Shelley Brandon

My bio is rather complex and like most people's starts at birth, or maybe before. I was adopted as an infant by very special and very loving parents. Pretty normal and average childhood with two younger brothers. Married at 22, motherhood at 25, divorced single parent at 29. Blessed at 31 with a new chance at love and the family I'd always wanted. Eight months later two of my sons lost their mother to pneumonia. Our blended family was tossed by the waves of grief from the beginning. The waves became a tsunami when my wonderful husband died 14 years later. Grief has been my shadow for nearly 20 years now, but life is still good when you're standing in the light.

We Do Each Day, and the Days Become Our Life

In: Death of a Spouse, Grief
We Do Each Day, and the Days Become Our Life www.herviewfromhome.com

Living in DC means taking cabs. My husband, Shawn, and I took plenty of cabs for the 13 years we lived in DC together, and he always loved chatting with the drivers. I remember one time when we were going out he got into a long discussion with our driver who had fled Iran during the 1979 revolution. Our friends who were also in the cab were blown away with how much Shawn knew about the revolution. Our driver, who became Shawn’s newest best friend, was pretty impressed, too. But now I’m taking cabs alone, so I prefer using a car...

Keep Reading

Surviving the Weight of Grief—Because I Must

In: Death of a Spouse, Grief
Surviving the Weight of Grief—Because I Must www.herviewfromhome.com

It’s been a long time since I wore three-inch heels. They sit in my closet, beautifully shiny and begging me to go out. The thing is, I’m perpetually sad, and going out won’t change that. But I’m tired of being at home all the time. In any case, the heels finally won out a few days ago and I got myself downtown. I was going to a political event—something my husband Shawn and I would have done frequently if he were still alive. Most of the people there didn’t know me, and I found it interesting that I was able...

Keep Reading

I’m Parenting Alone, But I Can’t Be Both Mom and Dad To My Kids

In: Death of a Spouse, Grief, Motherhood
I'm Parenting Alone, But I Can't Be Both Mom and Dad To My Kids www.herviewfromhome.com

I have heard a lot from single moms and dads, widowed or otherwise, that now they “have to be the mom AND the dad.” While practically, I totally get that, I find I can’t burden myself further with that thought; feeling like I need to be the dad for my children, now that theirs is dead. It’s too exhausting to try to put pressure on myself to do the impossible because I will never, ever be able to take the place of their dad or take the place of a father figure that may be there in the future. Ever....

Keep Reading

It’s OK To Pray For Your Future Husband As You Mourn the One In Heaven

In: Death of a Spouse, Faith, Grief
It’s OK To Pray For Your Future Husband As You Mourn the One In Heaven www.herviewfromhome.com

“Don’t worry, you’ll find another dad for your kids, you’re young,” an older widow told me a week after my 34-year-old husband died. Those words didn’t even register because I didn’t want another dad for my kids, I just wanted the original one not to be dead. “Please God, find another husband for Nicole,” the church’s counselor prayed with me the first time I met him when I was desperate for someone, anyone, to listen to my pain as a I grappled with the confusion and heartache of death and my new role as a widow. The prayer fell on deaf...

Keep Reading

To the Single Mom Who Feels Forgotten At Church

In: Death of a Spouse, Faith, Grief
To the Single Mom Who Feels Forgotten At Church www.herviewfromhome.com

“There’s no place for me,” I pointed out to the church staff member who was manning the small group sign-up table. I had walked down the long table of groups, desperate to find a place for a 28-year-old newly widowed mother of a newborn and twin toddlers. “Well, we have a widowed group over here,” he pointed to the 50+ table. I didn’t fit in. “And we have the couples with young children over here,” he added. But I didn’t fit in. “And we have the singles groups over here,” he held up the table. I didn’t fit in. I...

Keep Reading

I’m His Widow, But I’m So Much More Than That

In: Death of a Spouse, Grief, Relationships
I'm His Widow, But I'm So Much More Than That www.herviewfromhome.com

Apparently, it’s National Widow’s Day. May 3. There’s a day for everything now, to sandwich widows between National Eat a Doughnut Day and Dress Your Dog up as a Cartoon Character Day (that has to be a day somewhere, right?) makes it rather trite, don’t you think? Who even knows it’s National Widow’s Day unless a meme told you anyway—unless you’re a widow (or widower, is there a widower day too or is it all lumped into one day I wonder?), and any widow knows she doesn’t need a day to remember she’s a widow. She remembers every. Single. Day. I don’t need one...

Keep Reading

After Their Dad Died, Kids Repurpose His Old T-shirts In the Sweetest Way

In: Death of a Parent, Death of a Spouse, Grief
After Their Dad Died, Kids Repurpose His Old T-shirts In the Sweetest Way www.herviewfromhome.com

My son hasn’t said much or talked much since his father’s death a couple of months ago. The counselor said he’s at the age where he will be closed off. He may be angry or cranky at times, likely for no reason. He is old enough to understand this heartbreak, but doesn’t know quite how to process it. He’s also a pre-teen, which means these would all be normal characteristics that I’d be getting used to anyway. But I don’t like when he doesn’t laugh. I don’t like when he doesn’t smile. I don’t like that he doesn’t talk or ask...

Keep Reading

Grief Gave Me the Courage To Start Saying No

In: Death of a Spouse, Grief
Grief Gave Me the Courage To Start Saying No www.herviewfromhome.com

I have a hard time saying no. I say yes to things because I think I should. I say yes because saying no gives me anxiety. I say yes to avoid conflict or because everyone else is saying it. Why is such a simple word so ridiculously intimidating? Maybe because we’re afraid of how we’ll be perceived. We don’t want to hurt other people’s feelings. We think we are superheroes and we can do it all. We’re too focused on pleasing others. There are many reasons we say yes when we really would be better off saying no. But right...

Keep Reading

How To Help Your Children if Your Spouse Dies

In: Death of a Parent, Death of a Spouse, Grief
How To Help Your Children if Your Spouse Dies

When one parent dies, the child left behind is almost not helpable at first. How do I know a child whose parent dies is almost not helpable? Because it happened to me when I was a child. I lived it. It sounds ominous to be labeled not helpable, but I promise it’s not. I know what can help. I was the classic stubborn, self-conscious teen who thought she could do it all herself. This seems contradictory to be self-conscious but still think you can do it all yourself, but it applied to me mostly when it came to my mom....

Keep Reading

I Married a Man With Terminal Cancer—And We Lived a Beautiful Love Story

In: Cancer, Death of a Spouse, Relationships
I Married a Man With Terminal Cancer—And We Lived a Beautiful Love Story www.herviewfromhome.com

They say you can’t help falling in love with someone, like we really don’t have a choice, which may be true. But the real love story happens after the falling, when our feet hit the ground and we are presented with the choice to stay or run after realizing the love story contains our messes, our brokenness, our faults and mistakes, our desires and passions, our pain and deepest regrets, our darkest secrets and greatest triumphs. If you asked me if I would change my choice after hitting the ground with my husband Phil, I would always tell you, “No.”...

Keep Reading