A WidowRISE Reflection
I never set out to be brave.
I was just doing what needed to be done.
One step. One scan. One sleepless night at a time.

In the months leading up to Blaine’s death, I became his full-time caregiver. I watched the man I loved suffer in ways I couldn’t fix.
I advocated for him in hospital rooms. I navigated treatment plans, hard conversations, and heartbreaking realities.

And somehow—I kept showing up.
Not because I wasn’t scared, but because love gave me courage I didn’t know I had.

The Caregiver Chapter
There’s a kind of bravery no one claps for. The quiet kind.
The 2 a.m. kind. The I-don’t-know-how-I’m-doing-this kind.

Caregiving isn’t glamorous. It’s exhausting. Holy. Sacred.
It’s showing up with grace on empty.
It’s smiling through tears so your person doesn’t feel the weight of your fear.
It’s holding their hand while holding yourself together.

No one trains you for it. But you do it anyway—because love demands it.
And then… it’s over.
And the silence is deafening.

When Caregiving Ends and Widowhood Begins
No one prepares you for what happens when the role you’ve lived and breathed for months—or years—ends overnight.

I wasn’t just grieving Blaine. I was grieving my role. My rhythm. My sense of purpose.
And once again, I had to be brave.

Brave enough to sit in the silence.
Brave enough to face a future I didn’t choose.
Brave enough to ask, “Who am I now?”

The Bravery of Becoming
They say grief makes you stronger. I don’t know about that.
But I do know it makes you *softer*.
More aware of your limits. More dependent on God.
More tender with others walking through fire.

My bravery doesn’t look like a battle cry—it looks like a whispered prayer.
It’s in the days I get out of bed anyway.
The days I let someone in.
The days I write words like these, hoping they help another widow feel less alone.

You Might Be Braver Than You Think
If you’ve walked through loss… if you’ve held someone you love while they slipped away…
If you’ve carried grief in one hand and groceries in the other…
You are brave.

You are not broken—you are becoming.
You are not just surviving—you are rising.

And like me, you may not have known you were brave…
Until you had to be..

Reflection Prompt:
• Where have you been braver than you realized?
• What’s one act of quiet courage you’ve taken that deserves to be named and honored?