My Book

The Light at the End of the Tunnel: Coming Back to Life After a Spouse Dies

ISBN: 1425944213 ISBN-13: 9781425944216 Format: Paperback, 164pp Pub. Date: July 2006

It's a sad fact that half of us will eventually have to face the death of a spouse. But just as no two relationships are exactly alike, there is no right or wrong way to grieve this loss. Yes, there are myriad advice books from experts—psychologists, psychiatrists, clergy, etc.—detailing the necessary steps of grieving, but too often widows or widowers read these books and think they’re not doing it “right” because they haven’t experienced all those steps in exactly those ways.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel: Coming Back to Life After a Spouse Dies contains real-life stories from survivors—those who have actually experienced the death of a spouse. Some are young, some are older; some spouses died after lengthy illnesses, some were taken suddenly; some survivors bounced back quickly, others took a while. What they have in common is that they survived and they did it their own way at their own pace, and they learned that there is no right or wrong way.

Although I am not a survivor per se, my experience comes from watching two people close to me go through the process in very different ways. My son was 23 when his wife died quite unexpectedly from a pulmonary embolism. Several years later, my best friend’s husband (who also happened to be my husband’s best friend) died from the same thing.

Since then, I’ve observed several other relatives and friends as they’ve traveled the road to recovery after their spouses died. It has become more and more obvious to me that individuals have to chart their own course.

That’s the intention behind The Light at the End of the Tunnel: Coming Back to Life After a Spouse Dies. In reading these personal stories, I believe it will become apparent that it doesn’t matter how you go through the tunnel, as long as you come out at the other end, alive and whole—a survivor.

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