Happy Bday Ronnie Ray :)

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We ditched.

ok, I will admit it - we ditched the 5k on Sunday - up way too late on Friday and Saturday night! But the weekend was good.

I was right about it being a great thing for the newly widowed (sounds like something people choose). Lot's of important information, but being that I'm going on 3 years - a lot of these questions have already been answered for me. Although, it was pretty amazing sitting in a room with women from all over the country and 4 other countries! All pretty much between 30 - 50 = young. Gesh - Do you think there was a need for this??? All sharing a common bond - that it sucks being a young widow (I'm sure old widow's don't like it either).

But the greatest thing I got out of this was the (excuse the gross term) diarrhea of the mouth with Stacy. We both came to some important self realizations through - wine.talking.laughter.tears.wine.dancing.eating. We both realized that it is so easy to just go on with our lives and forget where we have been and what we have been through but it's these things that have made us who we are now. And it made me soooooo grateful for my life today - I've been so blessed. Weird to say - yet good to be at a place in my life where I can say it.

We also met a new friend who came by herself - brave - and was just like us - love Nancy!!! We invited her into our elite widows club :)

And even though we ditched the 5k on Sunday (5:30 came WAY to early) we had such a great walk around the bay (probably did more mileage then if we would have done the race) and we slept in until 9:00! I feel refreshed and renewed - a pleasant surprise.

Widow Weekend...

wid·ow /wid-oh/ –noun 1. a woman who has lost her husband by death and has not remarried. See also: Old, wears black, sad, pathetic, dried up.

Not: Young, with children still at home ~ except when you're me

So I'm going with my good friend Stacy to the first annual "Widow's Conference" in San Diego. My Dad asked if I was going to take a knitting seminar! What???

There are women from all over the country coming together to find a bond - a similarity. Some of the seminars actually look very interesting - Finding a new Purpose - Little Tears (how to help your child grieve) - Widow Humor - financial help - Widow's Still Wear Stilettos - and so on.... and looking forward to meeting Matt Logelin (he will be speaking). We are also letting the other member of our little widow's club (Chris Mcrea) meet us for dinner Friday night - he's a boy so he can't come to the convention!

Do I need this? Maybe ~ Maybe not..... But I do for sure need a weekend away with Stacy! She lost her husband right after I lost John. We have shared an instant bond since the first "date" we had! There is something so unique about being able to understand where someone has been - and that's why I think I also need to go this weekend!

When I first became a widow I had so many people tell me about women they knew who had lost husbands - the problem was that they were all over 60! Not a bad thing - but definitely different places in our lives - not a whole lot in common! I think this will be a great resource for young widows. And I might learn a thing or two - I'll let you know.

If it's lame - Stac and I are ditching and going shopping - that's how we roll :)