Hi Panda...yes I am a Widow....
I am so sorry for your loss..it is like a part of you dies with the loved one. In my case it was really rough..I cried constantly..I mean REALLY cried. I feel like I will never see him again as I have no beliefs in a hereafter life..I wish I did. I think a small part of me still has a hope and that helps.
They say you have the memories but the memories hurt too bad. I can't even look at my photo albums.I want my life back. I want my partner back..my lifelong friend.We too were just starting to really enjoy life as he had just retired.I feel like my life has been ripped away from me.
What keeps me going? Just putting one step in front of the other..keeping busy. I think of all the traveling we were going to do and just get so depressed. I wish I had joined a support group right away. I really think it would have helped.
Others that haven't lost a husband just can't understand. Especially when you have been married so long. It is like losing your heart.
You will be in limbo for a while..it took me a year to get rid of his clothes. I did keep some of his shirts and wear them occasionally..It helps.
Since he was a JW I donated all his suits and dress shirts and ties to goodwill. I got rid of all the books and literature..but I did keep his bible..
Please feel free to share your pain with me as I know exactly how you feel. Sometimes the pain is just unbearable..I would rather be tortured.
The good side is you are still young. I am 65 and just really don't know where to go with my life..Do you work? How many children do you have?
My kids are just so busy.I have 3 but they have lives of their own now..I really felt alone. Also because hubby was a JW..(I left in 1975) we didn't really have any close friends..he saw to that. We mostly went to help his JW Mom as she had lost her husband a few years earlier. Now she has nothing to do with me as I am an apostate..
Funny thing..the witnesses said they were going to drop around to see how I was doing..they never came back. When hubby was sick..I had to beg them to find time to visit him in the short time he had left. He only lasted 5 months after diagnosis and they came to see him twice.
The laison committee did rush to the hospital to make sure he didn't get any blood but then they disappeared. Didn't even offer to say a prayer..I had to ask them.It meant a lot to him as he really believed the JW's had "The Truth".
Anyway..as you can see I still have a lot of issues with them..I felt they treated him horribly. He died thinking Jehovah was mad at him for something because no one came to visit him. Jerks...
Was your hubby a JW?
Anyway..enough rambling about me..please feel free to E Mail me or IM me.
And big hugs for what you are going through..it takes a long time but you will survive. My heart aches for you and what you are going through..
Snoozy..