What started out as an average winter morning ended up being one that would change everything in Melissa Pierce's life. She went to wake up her husband Dave for their son's basketball game and found him unresponsive. Dave had died during the night and the cause of death was never determined. Melissa jumped into figuring out logistics - planning a memorial, getting her sons to school, moving their family, working a full-time job - but eventually she had to figure out herself. It meant focusing on what she was thinking, feeling, and needing in her grief. That shift to prioritizing self-care ended up changing everything, again.
We discuss
How Melissa and Dave met and fell in love
The process of adopting their two sons
How the shock of Dave’s sudden death led to what Melissa calls “Zombie mode”
Being the person who found Dave when he died and how that impacted her grief
Grieving when the cause of death is undetermined
The financial, logistical, and emotional reality of being a solo parent
Having to tell her sons that their dad died
When Melissa started to feel her feelings in grief
The physical toll of grief
Where Melissa turned for support
How prioritizing self-care changed everything
The origin story of the Widow Squad community
Melissa is the author of Filled With Gold: A Widow’s Story, co-founder of The Widow Squad community, and co-host of The Widow Squad podcast.
Listen to The Widow Squad podcast Episode 41- Holidays and Grief: Strategies to Get Through the Holidays After Your Spouse Dies.
Ep. 110: Mindful Photography & Grief - Dr. Jessica Thomas, PhD, LMFT
Ep. 109: Motherless Daughters, 25 Years Later - Hope Edelman & Brennan Wood
Ep: 108: What Does Forgiveness Feel Like? Judith Finneren
Ep. 107: Remembrance Wardrobe - Nicole Leslie
Ep. 106: Grief & Anxiety - Claire Bidwell Smith. LCPC
Ep. 105: Appetizers, Grief, Dessert - The Dinner Party
Ep. 104: Grief & Work - Alica Forneret
Ep. 103: Staying Connected In Grief - Allison Gilbert
Ep. 102: The Power Of Storytelling
Ep. 101: Grief, Seven Decades Later
Ep. 100: It's A Grief Party!
Ep. 99: It's So Much More Than What We Can See - Doreen Wiggins, MD
Ep. 98: Under Pressure - Holidays & Grief
Ep. 97: An Unexpected Devastation
Ep. 96: Dear Me, A Mini-Episode
Ep. 95: Witnessing A Stranger's Death
Ep. 94: Conflicted Grief - Jan Canty, PhD
Ep. 93: Grief & Transformation - Phelica Glass, LSCSW
Ep. 92: Grief At School
Ep. 91: What's Changed For Grieving Children? The 1950's
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