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Surviving the Holidays

Christine Baumgartner, a widow and professional dating and relationship coach provides an ongoing blog addressing the needs of widowers and their families as they try to adjust to the challenges of entering new relationships. Visit her blog at ThePerfectCatch.com and and read her bio here.

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Three “Dear Abby” questions answered

March 17, 2020

Just about every day, I’m in communication with widowers.  Not only is it what I do as a dating and relationship coach, it also comes from being involved in several widow Facebook groups. I’m so grateful for all these connections, for it has helped my own… Read More

Love Languages

February 25, 2020

Several years after my husband Tony’s death – as the fog of widowhood started lifting – I found myself wondering “what’s next”. I wanted to be open to inspiration and possibilities. I knew they were out there somewhere, if I could just learn how to recognize them. Read More

Surviving the Holidays

November 18, 2019

How to navigate the holidays With the holidays just around the corner, I’m starting to hear stories and questions on surviving the holidays from the people in my widowhood community. For instance, last week a widower told me he was finding it painful to make his own Thanksgiving… Read More

When friends leave too

July 9, 2019

Among the many devastating changes that come with widowhood, one that often catches people completely by surprise is when one or more close friends leave. Most married couples have a few (or many) friends who are also couples. The relationship between couples may involve:… Read More

Fun activities to do with your grandchildren

June 18, 2019

Sometimes widowers feel rather tentative about getting back out into the community after the death of their spouse. Just the thought of trying seems overwhelming. I had a client last week who was in this category. He definitely did not know how to begin. We got… Read More

Moving forward with life

May 21, 2019

When widows and widowers try moving forward with life, a multitude of feelings can suddenly make themselves known. These feelings vary a lot, depending on personality and situation. Here are some examples. See if any of these apply to you. Completely stuck You have the best… Read More

Fear-some Firsts

May 1, 2019

How to get through those hard anniversaries… that horrible first year I called them the “fierce-some firsts”: First Valentine’s Day. First Thanksgiving. First Christmas. First birthday (his). My birthday First birthday (the children’s). Read More

Lifeboat Supplies for Those Hard Times

April 16, 2019

It’s important to have a ‘lifeboat’ prepared for those hard times In a recent post, I talked about how I like to visualize my mood as a buoy in the sea. There have been hard times in my life when ocean waves would wash over my buoy, but… Read More

Challenges of cooking for one

April 9, 2019

In widow groups, I often hear people comment on how hard it is to adjust to “eating alone” and/or “cooking for one”. When this came up last week with a client, he and I decided we should brainstorm together and see what kind of options… Read More