Shout-out!

On Saturday, I met up with a group of young widow(er)s in the area. We had dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. My Joe had been to the chain a number of times with one of his dear friends (Hi Shelley!), but it was my first visit. During dinner, I had a lovely view of Elvis looking like he had to go to the bathroom and surrounded by a heart of lobsters. Pretty funny. More importantly, I made new friends and had a lovely time. Highlights of the evening included...

~Explaining to the waiter that separate checks would be great and that nobody was with anybody...because we were a group of widows and widowers.

~Watching the waiters and waitresses dance every hour with the most bored expressions on their faces...then watching a 90 year-old lady from the next table get out of her wheelchair and show them all up with her boogeying.

~Laughing at the birthday boy from our table as he was forced to wear a coconut bra and a grass skirt while we sang to him.

~Going to Saddleridge and meeting Danger from Froggy Radio. (I confess, I know little about country music. But Joe? I know I mentioned before how he wanted to be a black man when we grew up. I don't think I mentioned that he also had secret aspirations to be a cowboy.)

~Being asked by Danger what we were out celebrating that night...and having to mention more than once that we were just a group of widows and widowers having some fun, because he thought we were joking the first time.

~Doing the Electric Slide and hearing Danger say, "And a shout-out to the Young Widows!"

~Watching one of my new friends ride the mechanical bull.



Here's another shout-out to all the widows and widowers of the world...

~Because we're all part of that club that nobody wants to join.

~Because even though there isn't anything at all funny about being a widow(er) or saying, "oh, my spouse is dead." Sometimes it is funny, because it has to be.

~Because we know that it doesn't matter if we have kids or don't have kids,
it doesn't matter if we were officially married or not,
it doesn't matter if we were married for months or decades,
it doesn't matter if we are young or old,
none of that makes the hurt less painful.

~Because we know that it usually hurts a hundred times more to be told not to think about "it," than it does to actually think about "it."

~Because we know that there is no on/off switch to grieving.

~Because maybe we cry hard...but we also laugh hard.

I love my "widdas!" A million hugs to all of you. :)