I am not writing as much as I should or I want. And it’s not even so much a question of time, because I can find the time to write.I am an insomniac by nature.  I could be writing instead of watching brain eating reality shows on BRAVO. 

It’s a matter of having so many different things going on with work and kids and health and my husband and our family and LIFE that I just haven’t been able to settle my brain enough to come up with a subject.  Or figure out what I am comfortable with the world (or those dozen people who read this) knowing about me. 

Then yesterday I was in tears most of the day. Hiding my tears from my husband and my sons because I didn’t even know where to start or when it would end.  

Every year it comes like clockwork. Right on time. Right in its rightful place on the calendar.  
May 1. The start of what I have come to call the Ides of May. What used to be a month full of joy and birthdays, has just become a month I would rather sleep through.  

My late husband’s birthday is May 4. My birthday is May 9. My husband’s birthday is May 15.  
The last time I spoke to my late husband is May 18. I received the call he was dead on May 20. I spent the remainder of May planning services and moving out of the home we shared and trying to make sense of something that made very little sense at all.  

The next year I spent most of May with my therapist, just trying to make it through the month semi intact.  

The second year, my 30th birthday, I spent a solid two weeks in bed, watching all of our favorite movies on loop and answering my apartment door only for food deliveries.  

When I met my husband, three years into my grief, he had 9 months to try to make me fall in love with May again. He tried to focus on the positive of the month – our birthdays. Since he also lost his brother in May, he knew there was pain. But birthdays are about life, not death, he said. He remembers dates, but he isn’t as date sensitive as I am. I get physically ill sometimes when I think about these days when everything was ripped out from under me.   

After my husband and I married, I really did try to not let the month be taken over by my on going grief. We first found out we were pregnant in April 2010. Then on May 4, my late husband’s birthday, we had an ultrasound appointment. And the second our doctor looked at the screen, I knew our baby was gone. Something was wrong and his face told the story. I remember losing it right then and there. So I then spent my birthday (which always falls on or near Mother’s Day) that year recovering from a D&C and arguing with my husband that May was doomed and would never bring joy. I think my exact words were “Fuck May. It’s a shitty fucking month.”    

When I found myself pregnant again, this time with twins, the due date was May 11. Right in the middle of our birthdays. As I got closer to delivery, and a decision was made to induce, May 4 was the proposed date. My late husband’s birthday. And I adamantly said “no, no, please no that’s not going to work” and even my husband didn’t clue in right away. It just seemed odd that my sons might share a birthday with my late husband. And then I felt guilty. And then I was crying. Again. So we decided on May 5 because what boys wouldn’t at some point enjoy their birthday being on Cinco de Mayo? 

Life had other plans and our boys came into the world on April 30. Just shy of May 1. They would not be tainted by my negative feelings about the month. And I hoped that their arrival would change my feelings about May. And, it did. For a while.  

Then, when the boys were 2, we lost my father in law, suddenly and without warning, on May 7. The morning after we had returned from a weekend away celebrating the boys’ birthday in Monterey. We called him that night we returned. Told him all about our weekend. Made plans to see him that week. And the next morning when I was out on a run my husband called me in a panic to tell me his dad was gone. And suddenly my feelings about May being the shittiest month of the year were front and center again. And there they have stayed.  

This year, we had a great week celebrating our boys 5th birthdays. April 30th came and went.  
Before I knew it, May  1 arrived and the anxiety and the tears out of nowhere arrived with it.  

I am to the point where I don’t even know if it’s even the days themselves that send me off kilter. I think, maybe, it has more to do with the ghosts that appear. In my memories. In my journals. In my dreams. The other night I dreamt so vividly of my late husband. I could smell him. I could feel him. I could hear him. I woke up and for a split second I thought it was real. Until I realized it wasn’t. And I fought tears all day.  

It’s been almost 14 years since he left this Earth and yet I often feel it was just yesterday. All the things I want to say. All the things I wish I had said. All the things I so desperately want him to know – to really know – they dance around me every day of this cursed month.  

And the Monday morning quarterbacks have their opinions. It’s not fair to my family that this still is something I carry. It’s not fair to my husband. Our kids. And keep in mind it’s not like we have round tables discussing the years I spent with my late husband. We don’t. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think more than once what a weird dynamic it is that if not for my late husband’s death, I would not have my husband or kids in my life. It’s the definition of bittersweet.  

And you know what else? It might not be fair. But it’s my life. I can’t change how I feel. And I’ve already spent a lot of my life putting what I feel aside because of how other people feel.  

I’ve talked about it before. People don’t expect you to stop talking about or thinking about the parent or sibling, or, what I can’t even imagine, the child you have lost. But for some reason, when it’s a partner/spouse, especially when you have sufficiently “moved on,” people expect you to take down the pictures. Remove the name from your vocabulary. Cease the stories. Erase that chapter. 

But I can’t do that.  I won’t.  

And I am not going to pretend that this month doesn’t rock my freaking world every single year since 2002.   

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. I have vowed to try to share something each day that resonates with me. This is today. Looking at a calendar with red marks on certain days wondering when it’s ever going to get easier. Wondering if there will ever be a day when I will be at peace that I will never be able to have the last conversation I want to have with my late husband while he was still here on Earth. 

Wondering if I will ever be able to fully forgive myself for what I feel are my failings. 

Wondering if I am alone in my thoughts.  

Wondering. And waiting for this bloody month to end – before it’s barely even started.  

A few weeks ago I attended the LA chapter of the National Survivors After Suicide Loss Day. I co-facilitated a break out group for those who have lost partners/spouses.

It took me back to the very first year I attended, just about 6 months after my late husband’s suicide. I remember being so grateful to be in a room with people  who had experienced my specific loss, because even just 6 months in, people were treating the loss of my husband as something that would be easier to move on from. I would find love again. My life wasn’t over. I was still young. It’s funny the things people say. Sad, but also sickly funny.

I remember thinking that I would never tell a mother that she would move on from losing her child. Never tell a sibling that they could get another brother or sister. Wouldn’t tell someone to adopt a random older person to act as their parent.

Yet, somehow, that’s exactly what I experienced. It was clear in the months after my late husband’s death – the questions about if I was ready for a set up or a match.com profile. As if a date would help me forget that my husband was dead.
No, I hadn’t lost a child. I hadn’t lost a parent. Or a sibling. Someone who could never be replaced.

It appeared that partner/spousal death was somehow treated as “less than” – and this was once again confirmed in the group I recently co-facilitated.

With a spouse or a partner or a “just” a girlfriend or boyfriend (and really, they almost get the shortest end of the stick. Of course boyfriends and girlfriends are totally replaceable), it is expected that the pain ends when you replace the person you lost. And that is the problem. People actually think that your lost love can be replaced. I can’t tell you how angry this has made me over the years.

A few weeks after my husband’s death, I was visiting my sister. I spent a ton of time with my sister and her kids in the months after my loss. Something about being with her babies just made life seem worth living. One day I was coming back from a walk with my niece who was asleep in her stroller. My sister’s neighbor across the alley came over and told me how sorry she was. And then this:

“But Kate, you are 28. You weren’t married that long. You will bounce back. Just get out there again. Plenty of guys would want to take you out.”

Because being with the girl who cried at anything and everything, couldn’t hold down food and whose hair was falling out due to stress was such a hot ticket? Forget about the fact she lost the person she relied on and loved the most? Minor detail, I know.

It mainly hurt because to me, your partner/spouse is the person that represents the most intimate of relationships. The chosen one. The one you didn’t have to have but wanted more than anything.

Usually, as a third party reproductive attorney I know there are exceptions, but usually you don’t (and can’t) pick your parents. Or your siblings. Or your children. Family is stuck together. That’s the beauty and the curse. And that’s why nobody would ever expect you to forget about these amazing people in your life.

When I committed myself to my late husband, and he committed himself to me, long before our actual marriage even, it wasn’t because we had to love each other because of blood line. It was because we made a decision that we wanted to walk this crazy thing called life together – not because we had to. Because we wanted to. The amazing, the heartbreaking, the highs and lows and everything in between. Our love was our bond.

But, so many people expect widows and widowers to forget. To move on. To stop talking about them. To pretend those chapters of our life didn’t ever exist. The ghost makes so many people uncomfortable. I had men I was dating in the years  after tell me “not to mention” my marriage or my husband’s death to friends or family. Not that I ever used it as an opening line, but when people asked why I left Colorado, I was supposed to just make up a story?

But I refused. Any of it. It’s tricky of course. It makes people uncomfortable sometimes. A lot of the time.  I’m remarried now to a man who never once has asked me to forget about my past. Never once told me that my late husband needs to be excised from my life. It takes a special person to be open to being with someone who has loved and lost at such a deep level. I know that. And I try to be as respectful I can be – but I can’t pretend that my life before did not exist. I can’t pretend that I don’t think about my late husband. A lot. That I still say prayers to him and for him – that I thank him for our time together and wonder if he is proud of the life I have made for myself.

Because we didn’t have children together, people also just expect me to forget. To sweep it all under the rug. I have no ties to him, so why should I care so much? Because I do have ties to him. I consider his family my family. I still am in contact with his family. And I am grateful for that. I relish the thought of being able to introduce his family to my children in person one day – not just through email and social media.

The bottom line, I think, is that it all just makes other people uncomfortable. Uneasy.  The hard truth is that it’s not my job to make you comfortable with this.  I would never ask you to hide your past – your chapters of your life that made you, well, you. So please don’t do that to me or any other widows and widowers. If we are lucky enough to find love again, it’s because our hearts are big enough for space to be shared. A new relationship, a remarriage, new love doesn’t change what once was.

Someday, my children will be old enough to hear my story. Know that I was married before. Know that there was a man, before their father, who I loved with my whole heart. Who died tragically. Whose death left my heart and soul broken and battered. And they will know that their father took those broken pieces and put them back together with his own love and understanding. But they will also know that scars remain. And scars are a reminder of what I lost.

I guess what I want people to understand is that remembering my late husband, writing about him/us, and still loving him doesn’t mean I am not present in my life. Doesn’t mean I don’t love my husband and kids with my whole heart. Doesn’t mean I don’t respect my husband and our marriage.

Quite the opposite, actually. It means I have been able to heal. To open myself up to the possibility of great love again. And to a man completely separate and apart from my late husband.

Not many people can say they have had one great love, let alone two. But I have. And I do my best to honor both of them every single day.

The last time I flew into Denver was May 2002.  It was to claim my late husband’s body, pack up our home and attend the first of three services he was to have.   Three services to accommodate all his family and friends and the different aspects of his life.

I had been at my parents’ home in California, recovering from a heart condition that had come on strong and fast.  I had been so weak in the last weeks I spent in Colorado, and my husband wasn’t able to take care of me.  Things were falling apart at such a rapid rate, that looking back, it’s as if he was acting the way he was so I would break.  So my parents would insist I come home and meet with their specialists and get answers they thought they needed regarding my health.   It was such a screwed up time, and neither of us were thinking clearly or acting rationally.   So, when I got the call that my husband was dead, and that his sponsor and dear friends, whom I had sent to our home to check on him, had found him, my brain sort of imploded.  I recall bits and pieces of that three days between the call from the Police Department and the flight to Denver.   But I remember everything about that flight.

A dear friend was flying with me, as my parents were taking a later flight.  I was still in the process of making calls and trying to answer questions from family and friends.   Planning memorial services.  Making decisions about our home, his car, his body.  Death is so hard.   Suicide is beyond hard. So hard for the person that dies in such a way and so very hard for those who are left behind.   So many people were angry at me.  So many people pitied me.  So many people didn’t know what to do or say.  And, a few of the very best people dropped everything to hold me up. I am forever indebted to those people.

On that last flight to DIA so many years ago, I remember crying all the way to the airport.  My friend practically glued to my side.  When we checked in, and I handed my ID to the representative at the counter, I also provided the letter from the Neptune Society.  The letter that explained that I was flying to claim my husband’s body and attend his memorial service.  I had been told by the reservation representative when I booked my ticket to do that.  I still remember the way the counter representative looked at me. I still remember her saying “Oh, my dear.  You are so young.  I am so very sorry.”  And I remember breaking down.   We checked our bags, and we received our boarding passes.  We went through security.  It was just a few months after 9/11 and airports were still figuring out all the new screenings and protocol.  When we handed our IDs and boarding passes to the TSA agent, and he asked me what my purpose for travel was, I answered “my husband is dead.   I have to deal with it.” I don’t believe that was the answer he was expecting.

I didn’t even realize that my boarding passes had shown that my friend and I had been upgraded to First Class.   I didn’t realize it until the attendant on board greeting us  knew my name and told my friend and me that she would escort us to our seats.  The first row.  She asked if I needed anything.  I told her my husband.  And I started to cry.   And then I remember laughing.  That nervous, this can’t be real laugh because the only other time I had flown First Class was with my late husband.  He had won a trip from his company.  And he flew me First Class to meet him.  And here I was, flying First Class to go back to where my home had been with my husband who was now dead.  My friend got me a drink.  A stiff drink.  And I cried for the almost two and half hour flight.  When we landed the pilot came out and told me how sorry he was. He wished me strength.

That was the last time I flew to Denver.   Up until that flight, the Denver flight was second nature to me.  For so many years before I moved to Denver, I had flown to Denver at least once a month.  At least.  For almost 7 years. Denver had always meant I would soon be with Greg.   Denver, in a way, had always been like coming home.   After he died, Denver just became a place of pain.  Of anger.  Of questions I couldn’t answer.  Of arguments I couldn’t take back.   Of broken dreams.  Of unfulfilled promises.  So I avoided Denver like the plague.

When I went to Aspen to visit a dear friend and scatter Greg’s ashes, I flew directly into Aspen.   Aspen was the only part of the state I could visit.  And I did.  A few times after his death.  It was the place where we went for long weekends.  Where I learned to fly fish.  Where we were engaged.   Aspen was a place of joy for me.  So that is where I went when I needed to be close to Greg.   Even though I still had amazing friends and Greg’s family in Denver, I just couldn’t go there.  There were just too many ghosts.

For over 13 years I avoided flying into Denver.  I have wanted to visit friends and family and decided against it as I was about to book tickets.  I have made sure that if I am flying anywhere else with a layover, that I don’t have a layover in Denver.   Like I said, I avoided it like the plague.  Until I couldn’t.

This past August, my family was headed to Michigan for a wedding and then Pittsburgh to see family.  Coming home from Pittsburgh the only flight that worked for our budget and schedule was one that went through Denver.  Believe me, I spent hours trying to figure out something else.  That flight was the only one that worked.  So I booked it.  And the anxiety started almost immediately.

My husband asked if I wanted to book a few days in Denver, either with or without him and our boys, so I could see family and friends.   And,  a part of me really wanted to.  But a part of me knew that just this flight, as silly as it seems, was going to be all I could handle that day.   It would end up being just a very short layover.

The morning we left Pittsburgh, I started saying little prayers (or pleas) for strength and calm.   Please don’t let me lose it on the flight.  Please don’t let me lose it and make my husband worry about me.  Please don’t make me have to explain to my sons who don’t yet know their mommy was married before why mommy is so upset.  Please don’t let me throw up on the plane.

I was actually very calm until the pilot came on to let us know we were about an hour out of Denver.  Clear skies and a smooth landing were anticipated.  And, I couldn’t stop thinking about Greg.  About the life we tried to make there.  About all the years I spent flying in and out of that airport.  About the fall foliage and snowball fights and springs and summers spent on the rivers fishing.  Of football and hockey and basketball and baseball and how we loved all of it being RIGHT THERE downtown.  And before I knew it, I realized that all the things I was remembering about Denver were the awesome times we had enjoyed there.  For the first time, in a very long time, the joy was first and foremost.  The pain was just peripheral.

We landed, and I took a deep long breath.  And I asked my husband if he wouldn’t mind taking the boys ahead.   We had a very short layover, and we would be boarding our flight home almost immediately.  But I just wanted a  moment in that place.   In that terminal.  In that city.   Just a moment.  To reflect.  To honor.  To just be.

One of the first things I saw coming out of the gate was a Tornado Shelter sign.  They are all over the terminal – in alcoves and the restrooms.  Greg used to joke that if anyone was ever going to get stuck in DIA during a tornado it would be me.  I am just the kind of person that has all kinds of crazy stuff happen to her.  So the signs were always sort of a joke.

So, I stood by that sign and stared at it for a few minutes.   And I took a huge breath of Colorado (albeit terminal) air.  And I smiled when I realized I didn’t need shelter from that tornado anymore.  The storm had passed.  And I was still standing.

************

Come find me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mamalawmadingdong

   
 
This has been the hardest piece I have ever written. I have written and deleted. Put it away, come back, written and deleted. It’s been weeks of this. I’ve written about suicide, death, grief, infertility and yet this has been the hardest piece to write.  

Perhaps because it’s so deeply personal. Perhaps because it opens up all my insecurities for the reading audience to see. Perhaps because in writing it all down, I know the excuses will have to stop and changes will have to be, and should be, made.  

You see, this piece is about admitting that I feel like I failed myself. This piece is about admitting I failed my children this past summer. I didn’t give them the summer they deserved or should have had. And, I didn’t because of my own issues. My own insecurities. I wasted precious time with them worrying about things that in the scheme of life, simply shouldn’t be so damn important.  

I’ve always struggled with my weight and body image. I was a chubby child – the tops of my thighs touched at birth and they still do. Even when I was running 50 plus miles a week they touched. I have a bubble butt/junk in the trunk/a big backside. I’ve always been bigger than all of my friends. And it’s always been a source of insecurity for me. Sharing clothes with my besties wasn’t something I could do.  

In high school I thinned out a bit, running track and playing tennis, but I was still a bigger girl and still longed to be thin like so many of my friends able to wear short shorts and skirts. And it didn’t matter how much I ran or how much tennis I played, I was always a solid size 12 when my friends were 0-4’s.   

In my twenties I focused on being healthy and fit. I worried less about numbers on the scale and the size of my jeans and more about how I felt. I was running, fly fishing, hiking, swimming and active. And I was with a man who told me I was beautiful every single day. I embraced my body for the first time in my entire life.  

The thinnest I have ever been, and will ever be again, was after my first husband’s suicide. I had lost a bit of weight before his death, as I had been extremely ill with a flu that turned into a pericarditis. It was a scary time for all of us, although we couldn’t imagine that in a few short weeks our lives would be forever altered by Greg’s death.  

I readily admit I am an emotional eater. However, after Greg’s death I couldn’t even keep crackers down. Nothing stayed in, and that is if I attempted to eat at all. My mother force fed me and it usually just landed me in the bathroom – a mess at both ends. My body was wrecked. But man, was I skinny. I wore a size 6 for the first time ever in my adult life. And in a sick way, it felt good.  

I still remember running into the stereotypical Newport Beach “OC” Housewife a month or so after Greg died. I was at a Starbucks getting a tea, having just walked miles trying to clear my head and I heard from the other side of the store: 

“Oh my GAWD, Katie! Look at you! You are SO thin! I mean, I’ve never SEEN you THIS SKINNY! My GAWD! I mean, it’s certainly sad about your husband, but WOW! Death looks good on you! I really can’t believe it!” 

Um, thanks? 
So, you see, me and my body image have always been a little skewed.   

As I processed my grief and tried to realize some sense of normalcy in my life and then, in the years that followed, started dating again, my love of cooking and food and entertaining came back. The pounds crept back. But I was running and doing boot camp and happy with the way I looked. And, again, when I started dating the man who became my husband and the father of our children, I was again lucky to be with a man who told me I was beautiful every single day.  

So how did it all come apart again? Infertility treatments meant I started my twin pregnancy about 6 pounds over where I wanted to be, but I had a very healthy pregnancy and actually was back in my pre-pregnancy jeans a month after delivery. I started running again as soon as I was cleared (although let’s be honest, after pushing two full term kids through my lady cavity 20 minutes apart I came up against a problem I never had before – peeing a little when I ran or jumped or even coughed or sneezed. These are the things no one talks about. Post delivery only invest in black running pants. You can thank me later).  

Then, when the boys were about two, the bottom fell out. Two very sudden and tragic deaths – my husband’s best friend and my husband’s father occurred within seven weeks of each other. Two more family friends died after lengthy battles with cancer. My immediate family was rocked by significant health issues. My best friend who doesn’t live near close enough was losing her father. Managing all of this while grieving and trying to be a supportive wife and mom and lawyer and friend and writer, well, it all took its toll. Fifty pounds of toll.  

Fifty pounds. Tipping the scale at over 200 pounds. Out of shape, clothes bursting at the seams and cellulite in places I didn’t even know you could get cellulite. I’m embarrassed it came to this. And, ashamed. Ashamed because of what it has done to me and mostly to my kids.  

It hit me one day at a kid friendly beach near where we live, called the Lagoon. I had my bathing suit on, but I also had a sundress over it. I didn’t plan on taking that sundress off. It would allow me to wade in the water with our boys, but I wouldn’t have to expose my body and my insecurities to everyone else there.  

“Mama, didn’t you bring your suit with you?” 

“I have it on, love. I just don’t want to swim. I’ll pull you on your boogie board or we can make a castle. We will still have fun.” 

“But it’s so hot Mama. Just take your dress off and play in the water.” 

But I didn’t. Not that day. Not the 10 times after when I took them. I sent regrets to beach barbecues and beach days that friends were hosting, simply because the thought of being in a swim suit made me so anxious. Birthday invites to swim parties made me queasy. I have beautiful girlfriends with beautiful bodies. And I guarantee none of them would ever shame me. I do that just fine on my own. But I just couldn’t do it – I couldn’t expose myself like that. 
Because of my own shame, my own rut, my own anxiety over MY body issues, my kids missed out. And I know that is not the mom I want to be. Not now, not ever.  

So, when we went to Lake Michigan for a family wedding and beach vacation, I swore to myself and for our kids, I would not cover up. I would swim and play and walk and do it all in my suit. And I did. I felt exposed. And, yes, I did feel embarrassed. I have a beautiful sister who still rocks a bikini after having 3 kids. Her three daughters, my nieces, are the epitome of California beach beauties.  However, I took off my cover up and I jumped in the water and laughed and splashed and swam and played. I had the time of my life with my family.  
I did it. Because I had two little boys who asked me on the plane if I was going to spend our trip swimming with them or just sitting on the sand in my dress. And it ripped my heart out. I will not ruin memories for my children because of my own insecurities.  

I will get healthy again for them. So we all can enjoy summer days with abandon. The way they were meant to be enjoyed. And in the meantime, I will work to embrace myself, all of it, and make time for myself, and show up, even in a bathing suit if that is asked of me.  

I’ll even pose for pictures. Something I would never have done before.  
  

(This post does discuss suicide, depression and grief.   It could be triggering to some who are struggling or who have recently lost a loved one.)

It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since Robin Williams left this Earth. So many of us who adored him as Mork and then grew to love him in his myriad roles on the big screen – as a teacher, a therapist, a medical student, a lovable genie, just to name a few, felt like we had lost a beloved friend. Many of us had never even met him, didn’t really even know him, but we cried when we heard the news and grieved like we lost a family member.

Up until his death, I had never shared with anyone, verbally or in writing, about my amazing encounter with him at LAX. During one of my lowest moments after my late husband’s suicide, he was there to pick me up and offer me kindness, grace, and love. And when I heard the news of his death, I felt like I had been kicked in the gut. I felt like I had lost a member of my family. The feelings from all those years ago came rushing back to me, and all I could do was internally berate myself for never reaching out to him again to let him know just how much his kindness sustained me. What a lesson he taught me that day.

I have regularly volunteered as a co-facilitator for the Survivors After Suicide Support Group here in Los Angeles, offered through Didi Hirsch. It’s a group I went through after my late husband’s death, and it saved me in so many ways. Grief is so difficult, and the grief brought by suicide is perhaps the most difficult to process. Suicide is a loss like no other. It’s messy. It’s unexpected (even if the person lost was troubled – you never think “this” will happen to you). And, mostly, it’s misunderstood.  Chaos becomes the norm.  Nothing is as it was.  One wonders if any sort of normal will ever return.

I have always been determined to give meaning to this awful experience, and I wanted to give back to those who had given so much to me. Certainly the love of family and friends and the support of my parents were essential to my survival. But, the group, the facilitators and the members, the ones who really, truly understood what I was talking about when I spoke, saved me. Truly saved me. I had never been a depressed person before – I didn’t take drugs or drink daily and never, ever did I think things would be easier if I was dead. But, in the days and months after the suicide, I was and did all of these things. I didn’t eat. I barely slept. I popped pills for anxiety. I drank to numb myself. I thought about ways I could just end my pain. I considered ways to die.   The community of survivors were the ones that knew my secrets. And they were essential to my healing.

I continue with the groups not only because I think it’s essential to be there for those experiencing the most horrific level of pain they will ever experience, but because I receive so many gifts from them. And, in the back of my mind, there is always the memory of how Robin Williams was there for me, a perfect stranger, when I needed it the most, and I try to live that spirit of giving as much as I can. Asking if someone is ok if it seems they need help. Not being afraid to ask the difficult questions if I feel they need to be asked.

In group, I often speak of the gifts that come from suicide. Those so raw in their grief usually look at me like I have two heads – what good could possibly come from this horrific event? There are many. We need only look to the last year since Robin Williams left this Earth to see how this tragic event and loss has turned the tide and created waves of good.

Calls to the Suicide Crisis line were at an all time high in the weeks and months after his death. Suddenly depression wasn’t a dirty little word – we saw how this beautiful man could be silenced by it, and  suddenly we knew we had to talk about it. We knew that smiles often mask sadness. Jokes often mask misery and pain.  So we collectively started to pay attention. To ourselves and each other. We decided that asking for help was a sign of strength, not weakness. We proclaimed that we would not let a word or a diagnosis minimize who we are. What we are capable of.
I have had more honest conversations with friends and strangers alike about mental health issues, suicide and suicide prevention, in the last year than I have had in the last 13 years combined.  That is victory to me.

It’s incredibly tragic that we lost such a generous talent. Such a good human being. But it’s incredibly beautiful that the legacy of that loss is awareness. And compassion. And empathy.
He left us with amazing gifts.
I’m grateful for all of them.

**********************

If you or someone you know is in crisis, please never hesitate to call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline which is available toll free 24/7
 1-800 -273-TALK (8255)

Support and Resources:

The National Alliance on Mental Illness 
www.nami.org 

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
www.afsp.org 
Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services 
www.didihirsch.org 

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 A long, long time ago Wednesday meant fresh flowers. Sometimes a single rose or lily, but more often than not bunches of my favorite peonies or gerbera daisies. It’s just something my first husband, Greg, always did. Even when we were dating, flowers often arrived on Wednesdays just because. When we were married, he came home from work every Wednesday with flowers in hand. Sometimes from the fancy florist. Sometimes a bunch from the grocery store. He once told me Wednesday was the day you needed a pick me up to get you through the week. So, Wednesday meant flowers.  

Then, suddenly when Greg died, the flowers disappeared with him. I didn’t realize just how much his weekly gift meant to me until I didn’t receive them anymore. Suddenly, Wednesday was just Wednesday. And it was a weekly reminder that Greg was gone.

Greg used to also always have flowers delivered to my mother on MY birthday – thanking her for giving birth to me. I know. It’s beyond the norm. That’s just the kind of guy he was. When my first birthday rolled around after Greg’s death, and my mom didn’t receive that special delivery, she admitted not receiving his bouquet hit her hard. It was like a huge slap in the face that this is awful thing actually happened. That someone we loved so much was gone. Because none of us ever wanted to really believe it. Because when you are experiencing such grief and raw, isolating pain, despite the reality all around you, you can convince yourself it isn’t real. 

About a year after Greg died, when I was living on my own again in West Hollywood and had a little extra money to play with, I started buying flowers for myself every Wednesday. I would walk into the Trader Joe’s across from my apartment and just buy flowers. Groceries, liquor, emotional eating necessities like dark chocolate and frozen molten lava cakes were purchased on other days. Wednesdays were for flowers, and flowers only.    

After several months of Wednesday purchases, a Trader Joe’s team member finally asked “You are here every Wednesday without fail. What’s the deal?” 

So I explained. And by the end of my explanation, we were both in tears. She didn’t charge me that day for my flowers. She told me they were her treat. I will never forget that.  

And, in that moment, I realized what Wednesday really was. The day that kept me stuck between both my past and my future. Holding on tightly to my memories and what was familiar while also trying desperately to make room for something new. Wednesday – the weekly reminder that life was never going to be the same.  

So, I decided that instead of flowers on Wednesdays, I would do something just for me – something that would help me forge my way into my “new” future. I hiked. I ran around Lake Hollywood. I saw movies. I shopped. I slept in. I tried hip new restaurants and dined alone. I lied to clients and told them I was in court all day when really I was at the beach. I figured out who I was becoming and who I wanted to be now that I was truly on my own for the first time in my life. Just me. Taking care of me. I laughed. I cried. A lot. More than I ever thought I could. I opened my heart and let love in again. I found joy. I made peace with what had happened. I forgave myself. I allowed myself to have a future.   

I also decided that I liked my flowers. And if nobody else is gonna get them for you, it’s ok to get them for yourself. I still buy myself a weekly bouquet. It’s usually on Friday now, and now I often pick out my husband’s favorite sunflowers or let my sons choose what they like. Peonies and gerbera daisies are still favorites.  

But I always know I am here, in this place, in this moment, because of someone who believed strongly in the power of flowers on Wednesdays. And now, instead of sad, I’m just so grateful.   

Anyone who knows me well, knows my vocabulary can be, well, colorful at times.  It drives my sweet and proper mother crazy, hearing a well placed F Bomb come out of my mouth.   I know that when I get really excited and throw out a couple, my father has a mixed sense of pride (he is from Jersey after all) and chagrin (we should never take the Lord’s name in vain).  My husband acts like this is some character trait that just appeared one morning out of the blue, when it has actually been present since day one of our relationship.

“Katie, I just don’t find it necessary for such a beautiful woman to use such crass language.  You are so much prettier than that.” (And the father like lecture from my husband INSTANTLY makes me want to see how many of George Carlin’s 7 Dirty Words I can fit into a relevant, on topic sentence, right then and there).

And now that I am a mom, with two, not so little anymore, growing every day, almost 4 year olds, who repeat every single bloody word that comes out of my mouth, I actually do find myself having to be more careful.   Like really careful.  Because I don’t need them using some of Mommy’s language at their Lutheran Preschool.

So far, one or both of my boys has thrown down a shit (used correctly both times, too. “Don’t be a shit” and “Shit! That hurt”), dammit, Goddammit (in front of an 80 year old at Whole Foods, no less), asshole, and Jesus (and not said in a Praise the Lord kind of way).  What they have not thrown down (yet) is the ole F Bomb, fuck.

I know it’s just a matter of time.  No matter how careful I am, things happen.  Like any mom, I’m juggling a thousand things at once and the Jersey DNA is strong. Sometimes a fuck is all you can give.   I just try to be more aware of who is at my my feet when I utter it.

And with all the judgment and concern about fuck that goes around, I realized that the F word I really need to be concerned with, for myself and my boys, is FEAR.

I have not written since well before the holidays. I mean, I have written about wanting to write on Facebook statuses and emails, and I have done some journaling. But I haven’t written anything for this blog.    Why? Fear.   A tricky little four letter word.   The other F word.   An F word that in my view, is far more dangerous than his other four letter little friend.

Fear has paralyzed me.  It took me by surprise, really.   That something and someone that really have no place in my life could cause me to shut down again.  Keep me from writing my story.   Keep me from writing my truth.

My biggest fear when starting this blog was that no one would read it.   As self confident as we all want to believe we are, we all have a desire to be liked and accepted.   As much as I knew my family and friends were rooting for me with this blog, I had no idea how others would react.   This blog is me.   It’s my life.   It doesn’t get more personal.   And I’m very protective of it.

So, being that my biggest fear was that no one would read it, I couldn’t believe when someone did and had nothing nice, or even truthful, to say at all.  About any of it.  That’s the tricky thing about putting it all out there.  You open yourself up to everybody.   And while I certainly don’t expect everyone to agree with me, or to even like me, I didn’t expect to be attacked either.   And it completely shut me down and took me back to a place I haven’t been in years.   And, it sucked.   Because I knew what was true.   I knew what was reality.   But I was scared. And I hate being scared.

I spent so much of my relationship with my first husband living in fear.  Fear that he would drink.  Fear that he would drink and cause an accident.  Fear that he would hurt himself or someone else.  Fear he wouldn’t take his meds.  In the end, yes, for a time I even feared for my own safety.  Because mental illness is a tricky, horrible thing and it can rob you of the person you know and love for a second or a minute or days or months or years.

I have spent the last almost 13 years, since his death, trying to face fear straight up. Big things and little things.   Fear of being on my own.  Fear of loving again.   Fear of having a life and having something terrible happen to have it all ripped away.  Fear of totally screwing up my kids. Fear of flying. Fear of skinny jeans.  Fear of driving a minivan.  Fear of having maple syrup touch my scrambled eggs.

Today, in writing this, I’m taking a stand.  I’m not letting anyone get in the way of writing my story.  It’s mine to tell.  They can take it or leave it.   But they can’t attack and not expect a response.

Fear.   The dark shadow around the corner.  The “anonymous” commenter with nothing nice to say.

Today, I tell fear to fuck off.

Come find me on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/mamalawmadingdong

I help people become parents.  It’s part of my job.  Even if I am not directly representing them, but am instead working with their chosen donor or gestational carrier (surrogate), I am still helping people become parents.  Every day.

I always knew I wanted children – to be a mom.   My husband and I are beyond blessed (I know, I know, that word #blessed gets thrown around too casually and I know it’s annoying – but the truth is we are blessed) with our two amazing boys who keep me laughing, frustrated, exhausted, and in awe every second of every day.  And we WORKED to make those babies.  It didn’t come easy. It wasn’t a nice Pinot and a romp in the hay, and I openly admit I sort of secretly despise everyone who has become pregnant after a nice Pinot and a romp in the hay.

Two kids is a lot.  Two kids who were born 20 minutes apart is A LOT.  Two boys born 20 minutes apart make my head spin sometimes.  They are healthy and happy, and, to me, perfect.  But I want another.   My uterus aches for another.   When I see pregnant women and newborns, I know in my heart and soul there is another child out there for us.  For all four of us.  Getting everyone else on board  might be the biggest issue (especially my one son who declares “I will NOT share you with ANYONE ELSE MAMA!”).

There are also these thing called age and economy and finances and selfishness.  Are we being selfish by wanting more? Shouldn’t, after everything my husband and I have gone through, shouldn’t these two beauties be enough? Can we even afford, both physically and financially, to add to our family? I’m going to be 41 next May. My husband is nine years older.  We both married “later in life” – I was 33 and he was 41 (scary, isn’t it, being considered “later”).  We both had our own life experiences. I was widowed at age 28, and he enjoyed his bachelorhood as long as he could.  We wanted to enjoy each other before having kids, even though we both knew we had to get started sooner rather than later.   This is also the curse of being an assisted reproductive law attorney – I can feel my eggs aging and my husband’s sperm  declining. And that meant we had to get while the getting was good.

People – friends and family – keep asking when I am going to clean out the garage and sell or donate the cribs and the strollers and toys and baby clothes.  It’s time, they say. It’s just taking up space, they say. It would be dangerous to have kids now (you know, being so old and all), they say. Why risk having a child with a health issue when you have beautiful and healthy kids at home? You can barely handle the two you have, with work and life and everything else.  It’s time to clean out the garage, they say. Repeatedly.

But it isn’t time.  Because I am not ready.  I would like to think there is one more baby out there (one that my husband is scared will turn into two) who I can love and take for walks and wear strapped to me while I work.  A baby I can sing to and rock and cuddle with.  A baby who will be adored by two big brothers.  A baby who I believe will complete this already beautiful family we have made.

And that brings me back to age.  When I started in my field, I remember thinking “why on earth would a 45, 48, 50, 55, 60 year old think having a baby is a good idea? How unfair to those kids!” And, in some instances, I readily admit I am uncomfortable with those of “advanced age” having babies.   It’s just funny how I am now so close to the age I once had as my “do not cross” limit.   I don’t feel too old to be a mother to a newborn.

The reality is that I know I am a more stable, rational, empathetic, and in tune mother than I would have been in my 20’s.   In my 20’s I was too busy reading Melody Beattie and the 12 and 12 and recovery literature and trying to control my boyfriend/then fiancé/then first husband’s addictions.  My middle name was co-dependent.  A child would have likely been traumatized by my efforts to get my shit together.

Sure, I would have been younger and thinner, but I don’t know that it would have made me a better mom.  And don’t misread what I am saying.  My friends who had kids in their 20’s? They are FANTASTIC parents.  I look up to them.   Their kids are in college or graduating college and doing amazing things in this world.  And they are now enjoying empty nests while my husband and I are discussing public vs private school and saving for college and HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT TWO SMALL HUMANS COST SO MUCH?!

My reality is that because we had to do IVF to conceive, we have frozen embryos remaining.  And, I could likely make peace with being “just” a mother of two if those little ones weren’t on ice right now.   But they are there.  In limbo.  Waiting to be claimed.  And every year we pay to keep them stored and every year we say we have to make a decision one way or the other.  I always said 40 was my cut off. I didn’t want to be pregnant past 40. Now that I am 40, I have added a few years.  If the doctors say I am healthy enough to carry a pregnancy, it’s something I want to try.  There isn’t guarantee these embryos will thaw or even implant or even result in a pregnancy. The good news is that my eggs were retrieved when I was 34 – just shy of my 35th birthday.

So, this is the struggle.  The question that lingers every day.  The ache that I feel.   It doesn’t make sense to most of the people in my life.  It doesn’t seem “smart” or “responsible” or “prudent.”  I wonder how supportive they will be if we do decide to try again.  And I ask myself constantly, do we serve ourselves fully by always being prudent and/or responsible?  Or, am I just trying to convince myself that despite age and finances and every day life issues, this is a good idea?  It’s all just a big muddle in my head.

What I know for certain is that when I am working, and my iTunes gets to the song “Apron Strings,” I burst into tears.  Every.  Time.

And I’ll be perfect in my way

When you cry I will be there

I’ll sing to you and comb your hair

All your troubles I will share

For apron strings, can be used for other things

Than what they’re meant for and

You’d be happy wrapped in my apron strings

You’d be happy wrapped in my apron strings

~ Everything But The Girl – Apron Strings

The ache is what gets me.  And, looking at my beautiful boys (all three of them), I can’t help but wonder how a new life would do wonders for all of us.  Even at 3 a.m. when it’s feeding time.

You can also find Mamalawmadingdong on Facebook.  There, I share some of the daily grind happenings.

https://www.facebook.com/mamalawmadingdong