Really struggling at 15 months out with losing my husband

[DFW]

10. Yesterday at our late Thanksgiving dinner

We had mostly couples but also one man and one woman who had lost their spouses. No matchmaking intended or attempted. We try to maintain contact with friends in that situation because it could be either of us tomorrow. My wife looks great now, but she has had cancer twice already. I have had heart issues since 2004, and have had only one uncle and one grandparent that made it to 80.

The only advice I could offer is, “make/keep as many friends as you can.” It is what has kept my mom-in-law going for the last 25 years, when she lost her husband. She is 95 now. I think the continued human contact remains the lifeline to the world. That’s just my hunch, although it’s easy to give advice from where I stand now. My wife and I have been together for 48 years now, 40 of them married. I have no illusions. I know full well that I’d fall apart if I lost her, I’d be a useless wreck.