#MondayBlog I Lost Everything but Hope

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For many writers, life took an extreme detour in 2020, and all the re-calibrating, refocusing, and reassessing to locate the path back to normalcy… and writing, were simple exercises in futility.

Some have made it back. Some still struggle.

While my journey was similar, it began nearly a year before the Pandemic with the deaths of my husband and mother.

Two amazing therapists, plus meditation, journaling and medication, helped me through my grief.

But not so much with writing. The words still eluded me. Plots wouldn’t come together. Characters were flat. Blank pages mocked me.

Without Den and Mom, my two biggest cheerleaders, rallied behind me, spurring me on, I couldn’t hold it together long enough to write a paragraph. I haven’t even been able to write a review for any of the 273 books I read up to mid-2023.

Back to Therapyville I went.

My stay there wasn’t as long this time. Fewer tears and no meds… just talking it through.

Did it help? Well, I am getting book reviews written.

As for my books? We’ll see.

 

©2025 Felicia Denise, All Rights Reserved

 

Making Peace with Time

Emerging from the darkness of grief…

Beach shoreline

Time.

It either passes too slowly or in the blink of an eye.

But it does go on.

 

Sometimes we notice because it changes us.

We’re a few pounds lighter… or heavier.

We have new hairstyles… or less hair.

We have new beliefs… or have abandoned all beliefs.

 

The passage of time can make us restless and long for something new and exciting,

Or find us complacent and content with the routine and ordinary.

 

Time can find us safe and secure in the stability of family and long-time friends,

Or empty and grieving for those no longer with us.

 

Whether we realize it or not, whether we want it or not, time changes us.

 

I’m not the same person I was five years ago and I’m grateful for that.

 

But who am I?

 

Image by Michelle Raponi from Pixabay

 

©2024 Felicia Denise, All Rights Reserved

Happy Heavenly Birthday!

Where would I be without my children? They make everything better! ❤

Remembering their dad today on his birthday with another cake themed on his favorite show, “Archer” made by our always amazing friend and cake-boss, Elyse Martinez. (The red cake is from 2017 and he loved it! The flowers are from my sis, Melissa.)

Continue to rest in peace, babe. You are missed every day. ❤❤


Happy National Read-a-Book Day!


Reading should not be presented to children as a chore, a duty. It should be offered as a gift.” —Kate DiCamillo

Reading makes immigrants of us all. It takes us away from home, but more important, it finds homes for us everywhere.” —Jean Rhys

Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.” —Anna Quindlen

Keep reading. It’s one of the most marvelous adventures anyone can have.” —Lloyd Alexander


Reality Bites

I know you’re gone

I’m not Deluded

Or in Denial

Dread is a constant companion

Because I know you’re gone

And each day is more of the same

And no you

Yet , my senses come alive

When I see the things you loved

When I hear the music you loved

I get excited and can’t wait to tell you about them

Then my heart skips a beat

Because I know you’re gone

Despair and Depression grab my hands

And I’m caught in a tug-of-war

Where losing is the only option

Because I know you’re gone.

 

©2019 Felicia Denise, All Rights Reserved

~~~

holding on

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Image from Pinterest