Why I started a blog?

I have spent the past 11 months searching for information about how to live after your spouse unexpectedly is gone and you have now become a widow.  This was not my plan.  We had a happy marriage.  We had just celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary in New Orleans after bringing our youngest son to college.  We were enjoying each other and ready to make plans for our future.  A week later, my husband was dead and my life changed, forever.  This is a blog about how I dealt with the year and continue to move forward.

I read books and visited therapists.  I talked to sympathetic friends and relatives. But I needed some direction.  What do other people do in this situation?  The first holiday we all attempted to continue our traditional meal but it was sad and I cried for the next 3 days. I decided the best action for me was to runaway and plan ahead for these upcoming triggers to deal with my grief.

I had always loved to travel but marriage, family, work and bills seemed to take up so much of my time and money.  We saved up for the airfare for our 25th wedding anniversary and stayed for 2 weeks at a friend’s water view apartment in Croatia.

In an attempt to heal myself, I started to plan trips.  Therapy through travel was my motto.  The first Christmas I took the 2 boys on a cruise.  For what would have been my 27th wedding anniversary followed a week later by my husband’s one year passing anniversary I ran far, far away.  I went by myself to Thailand and started this blog.  I wrote quickly about the adventures and some feelings that I was dealing with.  It was an amazing trip and it started to help me heal and think about what I was to do in the future.

I think Mike started to get the travel bug after our Croatia trip and I was hopeful that seeing the world would be in our future. So I would like to dedicate this blog to Mike. I will recall memories of our life together and visit some new places.  I will meet new people and continue to have adventures for both of us.  Here are some places he would have loved to see and I hope people he would have loved to meet.

Kris and Mike arriving in Croatia