Memories – Connections Of Hope

22Nov 2020 by Rachel Greenberg No Comments

Collateral Beauty

A couple short months after my husband’s sudden death I found myself in an email exchange with a Sandy Hook mother. Her 6-year-old son was shot multiple times and killed by a mentally ill teenager in late 2012, it was a horrific tragedy that made international news. I knew my pain and couldn’t even imagine how she dealt with hers. Yet, she said something to me that I’ll never forget. “Have you heard of Post Traumatic Growth,” she said? “It’s called PTSG and it’s a strange phenomenon that happens after tragic loss, your heart grows and you begin to feel love for your fellow man for no reason at all, no reason at all.” At the time I couldn’t imagine this yet, I really heard her words and told her…

01Nov 2020 by Rachel Greenberg No Comments

Anniversary Time Again…

afterlife, Holidays, Love, Memories, Widow

Fall is anniversary time for me. October 21 was my late husband’s birthday and November 3 our wedding anniversary. I’ll never forget the first Fall after my husband’s passing. He died in the Spring so by the time his birthday came around that first year it’d been 7 months since I was suddenly widowed. He would have been 58 but only made it to 57. I woke up early that day and feeling like a zombie, I walked to the end of the pier where we often visited and left a bouquet of birthday balloons and roses. I didn’t mind if someone took them. I actually hoped someone did. I imagined a down and out person taking a walk at the beach to quietly celebrate their birthday only to find…

23Aug 2020 by Rachel Greenberg 10 Comments

I Used to Think my Loss was the ONLY Loss in the World

afterlife, Love, Memories, Post Traumatic Growth, Widow

After my husband died, I felt like my loss was the only loss in the world. The pain of losing the love of my life was enormous, all encompassing. And, because it was sudden and unexpected, this only added to my mountain of grief. I also was the only one in my immediate family or peer group who had lost a loved out of the order of things. My loss stood out. Glenn was in the prime of life, he wasn’t sick and lived each day with a zest for life like no other. Then on a typical Saturday morning in 2013 he suffered a fatal brain bleed out of the blue while I was out doing errands. The first few months after this I was numb. Then I cried…

09Aug 2020 by Rachel Greenberg No Comments

What you CAN Control

Gardening, goals, Hope, living in the moment, Love, Memories, Widow

I’ve started a vegetable garden during the pandemic. My little garden is located in a local park less than a mile from my home. I often bring my dog, Hannah with me when I go there, which is often. She enjoys chasing the butterflies while I tend to my plot. We are usually the only ones there. It’s peaceful and I feel good when I’m there. My daily worries melt away as I tend to my vegetables and flowers. When my late husband and I first met I had a garden in a community plot like the one I do now but much larger. In that case I was on a waiting list for going on 5 years. My name came up about a month before I met my late…

02Aug 2020 by Rachel Greenberg No Comments

Sunday Morning

afterlife, Fathers, living in the moment, Love, Memories, Uncategorized, Widow

My late husband taught me to enjoy Sunday mornings and his mother taught me the art of lounging before rushing off to start the day. Before I met my late husband, I don’t ever recall staying in bed even for a short period of time before jumping up and out each morning. I don’t know what I was always in such a rush to do, especially on Sunday mornings. Glenn changed this for me, forever. Early on in our romance Glenn would run out on Sunday mornings to buy the New York Times. He would always tell me to stay in bed until he returned. Within 20 minutes he would be back with a fresh cup of coffee from my favorite place and oftentimes with red roses in hand. He’d…

28Jun 2020 by Rachel Greenberg 2 Comments

How Alone Time Helped Me Heal

afterlife, Hope, living in the moment, Love, Memories

I’ve always been a loner and have had the ability to keep myself occupied and happy without much. As a young child we lived in National Parks where I spent a lot of time in nature. Nature teaches you that you don’t need much to find the beauty because its right in front of you like a gift. I spent many lazy days in fields of wildflowers as a kid without a care in the world. I always felt looked after and safe. It was an innocent time. Then as I grew and we moved to cities and life took other turns, I lost much of that magic I’d found in simple things. Life became complex and busy and “tomorrow,” would be when the good times would arrive. Today was…

14Jun 2020 by Rachel Greenberg No Comments

How I Connected with my Late Husband

afterlife, Dreams, Hope, Love, Memories, Widow

Before my husband died I had very little belief in anything afterlife. I thought anything beyond our physical world was “woo, woo,” and wishful thinking. In hindsight this was more of an intellectual idea rather than based on fact or research. I just took it for granted and assumed that when the physical body dies, the light goes out forever. The end of the road. On the other hand, my late husband Glenn was a true-blue believer that we go on after our body dies. He would often say, “I know there is something bigger, better and it’s all about love.” The last time Glenn said that to me was our last night together as we knew it. We were having one of our many late-night conversations in bed when…

24May 2020 by Rachel Greenberg 1 Comment

The “Official,” “Unofficial,” Start of Summer

Holidays, living in the moment, Love, Memories

Memorial Day weekend has always been considered the unofficial start of summer in the states. I have many fond memories as a child of anticipating this holiday each year which meant we could go to the beach, have BBQs, sleep overs and vacations. School would be out soon, and the carefree days of summer would commence. Then when I met my late husband, he brought a whole new meaning to the holiday. Glenn was a beach guy. I knew this before meeting him because I would often to see him drive around town with a surfboard in the back of his truck. He took me to the beach on our first date and we spent each weekend there, Memorial Day through Labor Day for 14 summers. Glenn would pack up…

03May 2020 by Rachel Greenberg 1 Comment

Boy Crazy: Happy Memories

Dreams, Hope, Love, Memories

I was boy crazy since I took a breath of life. I always seemed to have a crush on a boy. As long as I can remember I was always this way. When my classmates were playing hopscotch and Barbie’s at recess, I was busy chasing boys on the playground. My mother didn’t know what to do with me so she just ignored my boy obsession in hopes that I would grow out of it but I never did. My first childhood friend was a boy. His name was Peter and he lived in a big modern house down the road from us in San Francisco. In the summer before I started kindergarten we moved to Mill Valley, CA which was just outside of San Francisco. We hadn’t been there…

19Apr 2020 by Rachel Greenberg 6 Comments

420 (Not THAT “420”…)

Hope, Love, Memories, Widow

Seven years ago tomorrow, April 20th was my late husband’s funeral. A day I never thought I would ever have to face and certainly not in 2013! Glenn Was only 57. Although he passed away suddenly on March 28th, I wanted his funeral to be held in the same location as our wedding and just as perfect, so we had to wait a few weeks for the venue to become available. Glenn and I got married in 2001, just after 9/11. We chose a beautiful sanctuary in the middle of a bustling and somewhat sketchy, Hollywood neighborhood. If you didn’t know about the place you wouldn’t even know its there. The tiny art deco temple/chapel is set amongst one acre of lush tropical plants and flowers. Stained glass windows adorn…

Category: Memories