While Dave was ill, I made some new friends. These were mainly a couple mothers of Nick’s friends. They helped me tremendously while Dave was in the hospital and then home recovering.

Now that Dave has died and I’m on my own, I’ve added to my friends. People have been very supportive of me. I’ve been very lucky to have people care for me the way they have.

Someone told me that many widows feel reluctant to make new friends, that somehow they’re not supposed to meet new people.  That seems a shame.

At least part of the reason that I continue to make new friends is that  Dave and I often socialized with different people. He was much more of a home-body so he’d stay home and I’d go out. Plus, I attended a lot more networking events and professional meetings so it doesn’t feel odd to me to be out by myself.

It’s good to made friends with women who are also widowed. There’s an understanding that not everyone has. It’s good to have people who want hike or to go see a movie with me or just go out to dinner.

You know there’s that saying about calamity letting you know who your friends are. It turns out that you have friends you didn’t even know about.