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Here?s the FB group that worked for me: https://www.facebook.com/groups/389365021164214

You will see that it's pretty specific and may or may not be the right group for you.

A few other thoughts about grief support groups and ME (not necessarily you):

Although I'm a resilient person, my husband's death took me to a place I'd never been before. Losing 'my human' was, for me the greatest loss of my life. And the phases of my grief were a surprise to me, although they were not those five tidy little Kubler-Ross boxes we've all read about. I was comforted to observe that many other widows and widowers were also not finding that model very useful.

One of the most frustrating aspects of grieving such an overwhelming loss was the fact (and I do think it's a fact) that anyone who has NOT lost a treasured partner cannot begin to understand the depth or the qualities of that loss. People are kind--they want to be comforting, and that's wonderful--but they really do say and do some of the most astonishing things sometimes when they're trying to offer solace.

I think that eventually most widows do "recover" from this kind of loss, meaning that we process and process it until we find a way to incorporate the raw reality of it and accept it and then go forward and rebuild our lives. But as I'm sure others here will agree, it takes serious work.

And although you'll probably think I buried the lede about my grieving process, I was also in therapy before my husband died and continued in therapy for several years afterward. That was very helpful. There are a lot of things I needed to say or express or feel, but needed to do so with someone who simply, merely, and magically just LISTENED and then did not tell me what I was feeling or supposed to feel or supposed to do.

I think of you daily, Lizanne.

The best birthday gift ever!!!!

May I ask the name of the group? I hadn't thought about joining a FB group, but that's a good idea, thank you!

Congrats on the baby news! So cool that could help them out financially!

Congrats also on your consistency with the treadmill walking! You are doing better than me!

Neither DH or I have much of a pension. He gets about $100/ month from his deceased wife, my hospital stopped putting into our pension funds many years ago, so I only get about $300/ month from them. Thankfully, I get a good pension from my deceased husband (State pension plans tend to be very generous) and I can also use his leftover sick time pay to buy up health insurance premiums which should take me to Medicare age. Social Security and 401 Ks will have to round out the rest. I guess we'll get a better idea of actual costs/spending next year after we are both retired and move! And yes, kids will have to go off cell phone plans and current health plan come next year!

Love must be in the air! Liz's DD getting married in less than 2 weeks, my DSD getting married in May, Liz's DS has a new beau, your DS has a new girl and I just got a text from my DS in Madison that he is not seeing his new beau any longer because he is "a conservative". Lol! I'm sure he will find plenty of Liberals to date in Madison!