According to Mary Lee Robinson, author from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, 50% of happily married couples will become The Widow or Widower Next Door, the title of the book now available in EBook form from Amazon.com. Mary Lee joined that 50% in February 2013.
Mary Lee and her husband had just relocated 11 months prior to moving to their brand new home in the Low Country of the Carolinas. Her husband suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage and was gone at age 63. Her story is one of 25 storytellers in the book who speak from the heart about their experience.
Most everyone knows that losing a mate to death is a painful experience. Those who have not had such a loss of someone very close, seldom realize the depth and breadth of that pain. As a result, in an effort to make the bereaved (or themselves) feel better, and to distance themselves from the event, they say and do some outrageous and unthinking things.
The Widow or Widower Next Door 
We got to pre-marital counseling before we wed. Nothing, but nothing prepares us for the loss of a spouse. We hope this book will get people thinking and preparing, and we hope that it will help them learn how to better help a friend or a neighbor with such a loss. Isn’t it time to talk about it?
Readers have asked why is there a logo of a hand with a heart in it as the cover of the book. The answer lies in “The Valentine’s Story,” excerpted from the book: ”
The doctors told Mary Lee that Pat was not going to be with her much longer. She took a red marker and a ballpoint pen with her to the hospital on Valentine’s Day. She took his hand and drew a heart on his palm. She wrote ‘my heart’ inside it and said ‘I love you; you hold my heart in your hand.’ The mortician left it in place. Mary Lee states, ‘Pat still holds my heart in his hand and my heart is warm because of it.'”
The loss of her beloved husband, Pat, left her bent but unbroken. She “aspires to be the widow he would be proud of…still. WE aspire to be the widows and widowers our spouses would be proud of…..still.”
The Widow or Widower Next Door: 25 Widows & Widowers Answer 25 Questions about Losing a Mate
