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Reframe Valentine’s Day as a time to show love for yourself and all those around you and look at love more universally. 7. Find support and connect with others. On Valentine’s Day or any day reach out for grief support from a grief specialist or grief organization. If you are parenting while grieving, ask for help and find a community of Even if you can’t volunteer, we recognize that a lot of our church partners need monetary and other practical donations to help keep their ministries going, so you can definitely see if there are other ways to help with these events. #2 Send a card to a widow you know. This can be a simple, “thinking of you” card or a Valentine’s Day card. This day which has always been spent in a certain way, with a particular someone is now particularly different. It amplifies the fact that their special someone is not there. However, you can help a widow through Valentine’s Day. Galatians 6:2 exhorts us to, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” How Can You If you are facing this Valentine’s Day by yourself, perhaps for the first time, Aldrich offers 6 tips that might make the day easier to navigate. 1. Prepare in advance. Maybe it’s true that ignorance is bliss. Even if you wanted to forget about the existence of “V-Day,” though, our consumer-driven culture wouldn’t let you. Before the pandemic many of these groups would host a Valentine’s Day meal at a local restaurant. Some are hosting online gatherings on Feb. 14. Reach out to friends and family. Alone time is good, but if you are withdrawing from the people that support you, Valentine’s Day is just as good a time as any to reach back out. Valentine’s Day can be a time to reflect on memories shared with your late partner. Mine are particularly difficult to navigate because the day before was our anniversary. This makes for two complicated days. Incidentally, next week would have been our 27th anniversary, and now it’s my fifth one without him. I can’t help but count the 6. THINK ABOUT PRACTICING KINDNESS I remember how hard Valentine’s Day was for me so twice, I anonymously dropped off chocolates and flowers to some widows I knew. I put them outside their front door with a message of love. The first Valentine’s Day following the loss of my spouse felt like walking face-first into a wall. What was once a wonderful day, now left me feeling brused and shaken. Often we grieve in silence, moving forward with a pain that is not outwardly expressed. It doesn’t have to stay that way. Today is Valentine’s Day, 2023. It’s one of those days, those milestone days, those holidays that we have to face as widows. For some of you this is your first Valentine’s Day without your spouse. I am thinking of you because I know how hard this can be, especially if this is one of those occasions that you really got into. I was 100% focused in the moment, trying not to fall, having funIt didn’t feel like Valentine’s Day which is exactly what I wanted! I got home that day, exhausted, happy, sore muscles and all, not even thinking about the fact that I’m a widow and it was Valentine’s Day. Do something different. Get out of the house. Do something brave. 6. Ignore Valentine's Day. Don’t think for one second that you even need to acknowledge that it’s Valentine’s Day. This was my strategy, and hey, it works. Denial, my friends. The key to surviving Valentine’s day is denial. At least it was for me. I talk about this in my blog post, Facing Valentine’s Day As A Widow. When it comes to The only Valentines I get nowadays are from my kids and the customer service rep at our local utility. Valentine’s Day for Widows. However, if you need a little inspiration, I would say any of the following options are perfectly acceptable ways for widows to commemorate Valentine’s Day. Take a trip to the cemetery There is no special occasion as hurtful as Valentine’s Day for highlighting that you no longer have your loved one and that you are now a widow. They say grief brings people closer together. It’s not true – grief is isolating. It takes hold of your heart and doesn’t let go. We need others, in ways that can’t really be explained. "Widows feel alone on Valentine’s Day and I want to give back and help widows who haven’t felt like they have somebody on [Valentine's Day]," Hayes said. Happy first Valentine's Day. I can't believe I get to celebrate with you. Thank you for loving me all these years. I'll always be yours. I think I'm falling in love with you all over again. Happy Valentine's Day. Let's snuggle. After all these years of celebrating, I still get a little nervous asking you to be my Valentine. As Valentine’s Day 2021 neared, florist Ashley Manning got to thinking about how hard the holiday must be for widows experiencing grief. So she sent bouquets to women in her area who had lost their husbands. As hearts were lifted, a tradition bloomed. Valentine’s Day 2021 was approaching, and Ashley Manning was busy designing her [] Love is your son looking at you and hearing him say I need $50 to take you out to for Valentines Day. And laughing, because you know he has no idea that without a reservation there will be no eating out on Valentine’s Day. Love is the wonderful memories of past Valentine’s Days. Hearts in Bloom, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting widows and widowers, is set to expand its outreach this Valentine’s Day. After successfully delivering gifts and flowers to 40 individuals last year, the organization aims to double its impact by helping 100 widows and widowers in 2025. Founder Catherine Szabad is calling for community support That first Valentine’s Day I wanted to talk about Donnie. For me, the fond memories mingled with fresh tears in a way that made me feel very connected to my husband, even though I could not see him or touch him in a physical sense. When the second Valentine’s Day came around, I didn’t need to talk as much about the past. We officially became partners in 2014. We started with 3 monthly support groups of about 4 people each. Now we support close to 100 widows in our church.
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Photos from events, contest for the best costume, videos from master classes.
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