Linda Della-Donna

Linda Della-Donna is founder and director of http://www.griefcase.net. Griefcase is a nonprofit organization. Linda Della Donna supports widows going through the grief process. Della Donna makes her home 50 miles north from where the World Trade Center used to be. Email Linda Della Donna at griefcasenet@gmail.com

Articles:

For Widows Only — What I’ve Learned

After my husband died, I trashed my writing — Journals — An accumulation of spiral bound notebooks, one for each month of each year for four years. And a YA novel manuscript I was working on. I blamed my husband’s dying on my writing. I told myself, Self, if you hadn?t spent so much time writing, you might have noticed your husband was sick.

For the Newly Widowed:Top Ten Tacky Things People Will Say to You and Ten Ways You Can React to Them

The funeral is over. You?ve written ten thousand checks, signed your name ten thousand times to ten thousand thank you notes, and ten thousand times you wished you were dead. The sight of your mailman, FTD, and friendly neighbor reduces you to tears.

For Widows Only –What We Want/What We Don’t Want

We want our husbands back. We don’t want your husband, your son, your father, your grandfather, or your cousin’s next door neighbor’s husband, her son, her father, or her grandfather. If we ask the simple question, “how is he doing” That’s all we mean. We may not want to be alone, but we never want to wreck a home.

For Widows Only — Who We Are

We are women left. We experienced the best of times; The worst of times. And survived. We discovered the meaning of life — Nothing like the loss of a spouse to wake us up to that.

For The New Widow – Three Things To Remember – When The Moon In The Sky Hits Like An Axe In The Eye

It?s the end of the day, the end of the week, the end of the month. The cat?s in the cradle and the dog?s in the yard. Or, is it the other way around? You peel one last sticky stamp off a roll, place it on one last envelope, breathe one soft sigh of relief and like a kid with a cupcake, you congratulate yourself for getting through — One more day, one more week, one more month, maybe one more year — Without Him.

For the New Widow – Deal Yourself a Deck of Joy – 52 Ways to Manage Your Grief

Your husband is dead. It is your first thought in the morning as you get out of bed and your last thought at the end of the day. You sleep alone. You sit at the breakfast table sipping coffee alone, and stare at an empty chair. Change is difficult and you wonder can you accept the hand life has dealt you. You can. You will. Think new deck of cards. Think one card at a time.

For the New Widow — When the Whole World’s Ho Ho Ho-ing and You’re Thinking, SO WHAT!

With the Holiday season fast approaching, and everyone you know, and wish you didn’t, is making merry… While you, the newly widowed, are thinking, Bah, Humbug… Is it any wonder you want to scream, “Stuff a sock in it!” to that man on the corner dressed in a red suit, with a white beard, ringing a bell?

Ten Things Every New Widow Should Know to Survive

Then you suddenly find yourself without your life partner, you don’t know what to expect. Your world’s been turned upside down. Like the mighty oak caught in a fierce wind, you feel uprooted. Your feet don’t touch the ground. You think you’re crazy. But you’re not. You’re just a new widow. Your husband is dead and your life is forever changed.

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