tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post6095651185133061422..comments2024-03-28T20:40:18.960-04:00Comments on The Misadventures of Widowhood: Taxes, Movies, Baby Showers, Strokes and God, Oh My!Misadventures of Widowhoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17262709452281226620noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-19874778291678468472016-03-25T13:06:34.667-04:002016-03-25T13:06:34.667-04:00Interesting! Interesting! Misadventures of Widowhoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17262709452281226620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-64818065441796812202016-03-25T12:18:09.993-04:002016-03-25T12:18:09.993-04:00The UUA (Unitarian Universalist Association) may ...The UUA (Unitarian Universalist Association) may choose some social justice issues to highlight, but every congregation is self-governing and self-directed. They can do whatever they want.donnajurenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10799559087972759233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-38619969778097998862016-03-24T20:24:33.837-04:002016-03-24T20:24:33.837-04:00Conversations are good in blogs but it doesn't...Conversations are good in blogs but it doesn't always happen.Misadventures of Widowhoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17262709452281226620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-63124652112938284772016-03-24T19:35:50.782-04:002016-03-24T19:35:50.782-04:00+1 to all the complimentary comments re this blog....+1 to all the complimentary comments re this blog. <br />I also believe in free will, and God's whispers. I like reading the comments, makes it a conversation. ~ LibbyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-8492613404415861742016-03-24T16:23:17.245-04:002016-03-24T16:23:17.245-04:00Does the main UU Church pick a social justice-acti...Does the main UU Church pick a social justice-activity for all their churches for a certain time frame? Or do they decide locally? Our local one does a thing every Wednesday of going to a downtown corner with Black Lives Matter signs. They only have one black member in the 350 (?) member congregation. Once in a while they make the news if it's a bad storm, etc. Misadventures of Widowhoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17262709452281226620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-74118391929290649232016-03-24T14:55:41.210-04:002016-03-24T14:55:41.210-04:00Unitarian Universalists were accorded "cult&q...Unitarian Universalists were accorded "cult" status a long time ago. I think it's because of being non-Christian, although some of my friends and best UUs ARE Christian....just not of the fundamentalist variety. I cannot for the life of me think why anyone who has read the UU Principles and Purposes and the Sources from which we draw our faith to be a "cult" or an in anydonnajurenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10799559087972759233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-77019020057931106102016-03-24T10:43:01.214-04:002016-03-24T10:43:01.214-04:00You're the first to tackle the Christian/God t...You're the first to tackle the Christian/God thing. And I appreciate that. I know you're UU and I've been following the website of our local Unitarian Universalist Church, trying to understand why a few people I come in contact with call it a cult. That's ridiculous, of course, but like you said, some like to "use their religion to bludgeon the rest of us for being Misadventures of Widowhoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17262709452281226620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-8333596645222326832016-03-24T10:16:38.582-04:002016-03-24T10:16:38.582-04:00I didn't read all the comments, so I may be re...I didn't read all the comments, so I may be repeating what others have said, so I'll keep it simple. Yes, me too. On the Christian/God thing. I am dismayed how some use their religion to bludgeon the rest of us for being non-believers. I believe. I believe deeply; just not in the way they want me to, so suddenly I'm the enemy. (I'm not talking about radical Muslims here -- Idonnajurenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10799559087972759233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-14290202874311212292016-03-22T21:51:57.545-04:002016-03-22T21:51:57.545-04:00I believe in the Free-Will theory as well. I'd...I believe in the Free-Will theory as well. I'd ever hear the expression "God Whispers" before reading your blog and I love that term.<br /><br />We would have great "God" conversations in person, I'm sure. I wish I had been in your grade school, too.<br /><br />And I never did like the church dogma that pushes/believes in a punishing God. Even if joking I think it'Misadventures of Widowhoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17262709452281226620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-69848777615886687402016-03-22T21:08:10.886-04:002016-03-22T21:08:10.886-04:00A lot of people blame God for everything bad that ...A lot of people blame God for everything bad that happens. God gave us Free-Will and we sometimes make stupid choices and God lets us just go ahead and make them, hoping we will learn, I suppose. I have witnessed REAL miracles and I have had surprising things happen in my life that shouldn't have--or seemed like coincidences at the time that later, I chose to deem were God Whispers or God Judyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03399435237919718544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-29640712451860086752016-03-21T16:57:49.978-04:002016-03-21T16:57:49.978-04:00Thank you, Jean. And yes, every post you post is h...Thank you, Jean. And yes, every post you post is helpful to me and I'm sure many others. Thank you so much for this blog. <br /><br />I'm sorry for your loss too and glad we connected! RachelRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08687892249904526575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-20071751671572308292016-03-21T15:14:03.020-04:002016-03-21T15:14:03.020-04:00It was wise of you to recognize what was in your h...It was wise of you to recognize what was in your heart and not give in to social pressures to have children when you knew in your heart you couldn't do it the right way.<br /><br />I don't think having children is the ONLY way to make a mark on the world. (Though I don't think that's what you were saying now that I read it a second time.) Artist, teachers, writers and do-good Misadventures of Widowhoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17262709452281226620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-50917940523460023862016-03-21T14:35:39.483-04:002016-03-21T14:35:39.483-04:00Personally, had I had children, I would have made ...Personally, had I had children, I would have made quite a stain on their psyches. I knew I had unhealed anger inside me, so I deliberately did not have children. Only now, as I'm healing, can I imagine loving any offspring selflessly with my whole heart, and soul. <br /><br />That's the only sort of mark worth making, wouldn't you agree - be it through offspring, hubbies, friends, or GowitheFlohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01842273685414939160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-83320897955509788452016-03-20T22:29:01.592-04:002016-03-20T22:29:01.592-04:00I'm glad someone else understands the tootsie ...I'm glad someone else understands the tootsie roll thing. LOL <br /><br />Now that you're retired I'll bet you'll never file your taxes close to the wire again.Misadventures of Widowhoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17262709452281226620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-69265295869998090432016-03-20T22:15:43.894-04:002016-03-20T22:15:43.894-04:00I love the image of Don and the tootsie rolls. I&#...I love the image of Don and the tootsie rolls. I'm a rule-follower, too, and I also probably would have assumed that I couldn't have one if he had taken two. <br />Congratulations on having your taxes done! Most years, I have done mine at the absolute last minute -- some years even filing an extension and then finding myself sweating to get the tax return in the mail before that deadline!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-51892133740208039532016-03-20T20:41:43.632-04:002016-03-20T20:41:43.632-04:00You continue being you, too, Paul. I was mostly ki...You continue being you, too, Paul. I was mostly kidding about the blushing while giving anyone who might click over to your blog from here a heads up on your sense of humor. Misadventures of Widowhoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17262709452281226620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-91855960825746897252016-03-20T20:03:55.690-04:002016-03-20T20:03:55.690-04:00Sorry that some of my blogs make you blush Jean. M...Sorry that some of my blogs make you blush Jean. Maybe I should tone down some of the things that I put in my blog. I wonder if some of my friends feel the same, like maybe blushing. Maybe I'll ask them on my next blog. Oh well, I'm a true Italian. Ha,ha,ha.<br /><br />Continue being just who you are Jean. That's who I like. See ya.<br /><br />Cruisin PaulCruisin Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13137904435537645207noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-57093539638853934672016-03-20T18:53:09.446-04:002016-03-20T18:53:09.446-04:00Time does seem to have sped by very fast when we l...Time does seem to have sped by very fast when we look behind us. We wish we had lingered and appreciated the good times more, at least I do. <br /><br />Do you thing if you had had children you'd feel differently about the "time loops" and "what's the point of making your mark"?<br /><br />I don't know if Don had a 'gift' to give people but he knew how to Misadventures of Widowhoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17262709452281226620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-73019976642908136482016-03-20T18:28:50.599-04:002016-03-20T18:28:50.599-04:00I'm glad you created new memories in that part...I'm glad you created new memories in that particular church yesterday with sweet baby Abigail. How could it have been so long since Don's stroke, so long that this baby baptized the day Don had his stroke, is now celebrating her first baby? It baffles me that this second generations is now underway.<br /><br />Sometimes it seems like time loops right back around kind of impersonally. GowitheFlohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01842273685414939160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-54148045180581171162016-03-20T17:19:35.009-04:002016-03-20T17:19:35.009-04:00I love that name, too. She'll be a year next m...I love that name, too. She'll be a year next month. Our month old baby in the family is named Delaney and I love that too. Delaney's mom is a hairdresser who loves hair dye so that baby will probably surprise us all by wanting to be natural. LOLMisadventures of Widowhoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17262709452281226620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-67171656735020709422016-03-20T16:45:31.910-04:002016-03-20T16:45:31.910-04:00Thank you for replying to this so completely. I ap...Thank you for replying to this so completely. I appreciate it. I've always told H to get me to the hospital fast (we only live 3 miles from our hospital), but I can see how we could let things go too long or mistake it for something other than what it is. Putting the acronym on the fridge is a good idea and I will do that today. Sometimes people (including me) are reluctant to go to the Bella Rumhttp://bellarum.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-47697463412314044942016-03-20T15:47:33.683-04:002016-03-20T15:47:33.683-04:00Thank you for commenting! I helps me to keep on wr...Thank you for commenting! I helps me to keep on writing when I know that something I might say still has the power to help someone when I'm this far out from Don's passing.<br /><br />I think most widows have to deal with a lot of what-ifs before making peace with ourselves and that takes time. You're so early in the process it's normal for them to wake you up in the night. But I Misadventures of Widowhoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17262709452281226620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-26555925807105177592016-03-20T14:40:29.482-04:002016-03-20T14:40:29.482-04:00"But the only what-if that counts now is the ..."But the only what-if that counts now is the what-if we’d never met in the first place…what a dull life I would have led without Don."<br /><br />Thank you. I needed a thought like this today. I just lost my husband in February and had I known that his "flu" was really sepsis, I might have been able to save him so the what ifs are killing me right now and waking me up in the RachelRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08687892249904526575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-3428578672592383272016-03-20T10:37:42.634-04:002016-03-20T10:37:42.634-04:00I don't remember now---I just woke up---exactl...I don't remember now---I just woke up---exactly when his headache started but he had taken a muscle relaxer the night before because he wasn't feeling well---his arm and leg at that point. They didn't have that treatment back then, that reverses the bad effects of strokes if you get to ER within the four hour window of when a stroke starts. If they had by the time we knew that's Misadventures of Widowhoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17262709452281226620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5990351249805345004.post-6257977751084956042016-03-20T10:35:54.479-04:002016-03-20T10:35:54.479-04:00I hadn't realized that your had your stroke so...I hadn't realized that your had your stroke so young! Wow, it truly is a miracle that you were able to pull through and go on to enjoy a normal life.<br /><br />I should write about miracles someday. I believe in them, I just don't believe we can make them happen and that they only happen to true believers. To me, miracles are beating the odds. You and my husband both beat the odds and Misadventures of Widowhoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17262709452281226620noreply@blogger.com