Status Updates From Speed Grieving (The One, #6)

I'll experience a wave of gratitude that I'm no longer in a place where I'm wishing for what once was nor teetering towards a deadline-fueled future. I'm exactly where I want to be.

he worried that putting physical intimacy before the emotional bonds had fully taken hold risked screwing up the entire relationship

Jeff is just turning 30 ...

~~~~~

I'd come this far - surely I could go anywhere from here.

I felt relieved. Refreshed. Grounded. Whole. All the things people say when they've survived something big and words seem too small.

Skilled marketers know that in every campaign, you want a mix of "push" and "pull" tactics - "pull" being branding, word of mouth, and customer loyalty, and "push" representing advertising, product samples, and direct mail.

dating felt like starting a new job

I'd ... started wearing mascara - a reminder that there would be no more tears.

I had that vacant, burdened look of a survivor who wasn't sure she wanted to survive.

Even for ordinarily chirpy and pleasant people, winter in the Pacific Northwest can be a soul-crushing experience. The rain. Does. Not. Stop.

People often describe grief as a roller coaster with all its ups and downs, but really it's more like a Ferris wheel: circular in its insidiousness, with no hope of actually moving forward until you get off.

"Stammtisch" - which Gregg explained in the email was German for "gathering of the regulars"

I would not identify as a widow. I was merely a married working mother who just happened to be between husbands.

Not knowing what I was doing and doing it anyway had become my norm.