FWO: For Widows Only!

Widows Need Help!

FWO For Widows Only — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 16:46:12 -0400

I know widows need help, and I try to provide what help I can. You will find articles here that might help, or you may need more individual help.

If you are a relatively new widow, having problems with      + being alone, or
     + friends who don't call, or
     + anxiety attacks, or
     + sleeplessness, or...

Hello Friend

FWO For Widows Only — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 16:21:07 -0400

If you received a mysterious message from eponym.com, suggesting you check out Annie's blog, and that is why you are here...

Let me first say that a few of you are widows, most are wives, a couple are men. I'm not pushing my widowhood book and websites on you. I just need a test run by a diverse bunch of people I call friends. It's something I can't do by myself.

I am a complete newby regarding blogs. I have read a little bit, but it is a whole different ball game having to start one of your own. I sent messages to about 20 people I knew (as was suggested) to ask you to try my blog. I presume the message, which I never saw, told you how to get to it.

If you have a few minutes, please go to the address they gave you (http://fwo.eponym.com/blogs I hope). If you get there and can find my articles to read, please try sending a brief reply or comment to one of them. Then send me a reply e-mail at anniefwo@comcast.net telling me if you had troubles, and if so, what kind.

I really appreciate whatever you can do. Thanks,

Annie

For Widows Only! cover/photo by Bob

FWO For Widows Only — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 14:53:51 -0400

I posted a new photo to Photos.

Good Grief?

FWO For Widows Only — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 14:29:26 -0400

By Annie Estlund (848 words)

What could possibly be "good" about grief? Most widows go through a crazy emotional rollercoaster as they move from one stage to another. I recall feeling on level ground one minute, but perching warily on a high wire, or chugging up an endless hill or churning up a pot of steam the next ...

Widows: Take Charge!

FWO For Widows Only — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 14:04:04 -0400

Widows: Take Charge!

By Annie Estlund, Author of For Widows Only!

My sister told me, “When the car or furnace, or whatever, gives you problems—give it a swift kick! Nobody wants all this responsibility, and it isn’t fair.”

Joanie, whose husband had died four years earlier, refrained from giving me a lot of advice about ...

Widows might want to see this movie..."Water"

FWO For Widows Only — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 12:07:42 -0400

MOVIE REVIEW | WATER

Hindu widows’ stories moving

Friday, May 26, 2006

By Nick Chordas THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Shakuntala (Seema Biswas) and Chuyia (Sarala)

Water completes director Deepa Mehta’s controversial trilogy about life in India. Why controversial? Consider the subject:
Fire (1996) centered on a modern-day lesbian relationship between a desperate housewife and her sister-in-law. Earth (1998) chronicled Hindu-Muslim tensions ...

Welcome to FWO

FWO For Widows Only — Tue, 02 May 2006 18:19:16 -0400

Hi, I'm Annie

My raison d'etre is helping newer widows through the pain and fear of early widowhood, on to the scary period between being one of a couple and being one alone. and on to the eventual independence and a new life.

I was widowed at the age of 55, having never lived alone. My husband died next to me in bed without any warning, throwing me into a turmoil such as I had never known. After six months, I woke up in the middle of the night and said, aloud, "It's time for me to write that widowhood guidebook.

The book, For Widows Only! (which became available in early 2004), is actually a dream come true for me.When I was 29 years old, my best friend, Pauli Jensen, lost her husband to liver cancer. She was left with three little ones, just a few years younger than my own three. I truly don't think I would have survived. Her youngest was born the week they learned of Will's invasive liver cancer. Pauli didn't think she would survive either. But she did, after trials and tribulations best left untold here.

Early in her widowhood, Pauli came from Minneapolis to visit me in Wisconsin, and we began putting together an outline for what we thought would be a perfect guidebook for widows.We accumulated tons of information and piles of paper, which eventually migrated to my garage as we both got busy, and my family moved and moved again.

Then, at age 55, when I should have been much more able to handle the rigors of widowhood, my husband died. I had 26 years of maturity she didn't have; I had enough money to live on, which she didn't have. I had many friends who were widows, which she didn't have. And I STILL thought I would never survive alone.

Looking back, I would say that I grieved for four years. I wasn't totally numb and tearful all that time. But it wasn't until about four years later that I surfaced and faced life alone with optimism.

Oh, I forgot to tell you how you can find out about my book, and/or get peer support for your own grief.

For Widows Only! the book and two websites: http://groups.msn.com/forwidowsonly.com and http://forwidowsonly.com

I'll quit here for now. Dew Drop Inn. Annie