Let’s start with why I am here….

On April 24, 2026, Melanee, my wife of 32 years passed away unexpectedly. We left to pick up dinner and she was found when we returned home.

While it does suck a (animal reproductive organ), we did get to share a kiss and say we loved each other prior to my departure, and we had been having a really good streak of reconnecting and talking. There are a lot of couples that get far less so I am grateful for what we did have in our final moments together. I think that upward momentum contributed to me keeping things together through the first few months and kept me from wallowing in despair. It also helped that my support network came out of the woodwork, and I found many people to talk to and open up with — allowing me to do some healing-on-the-fly, if you will.

I know I am grieving. I’ve been through shock, skipped over denial, anger, depression, and have moved on to reconstruction and acceptance, with the help of family, friends, and hope.

More to come!