I sit down with my guest host and upcoming podcaster Marcia Boarders as I open up about my experiences with widowhood and my very own process of moving forward. I discuss why dealing with grief does not necessarily require you to jump back immediately into the dating scene and remarry – it is all about choosing and loving yourself. I talk about my own dating experience after my husband’s passing, which is centered on intentionality and purpose. I also emphasize the importance of having a supportive community and the benefits of undergoing therapy when navigating through your grieving journey. I am sharing my experience of loving the same man for 32 years, a mother to two adult children, a retired military officer, a breast cancer survivor, and my connections with others. Anyone experiencing suicidal thoughts should reach out to a suicide hotline or local emergency number in their country: Psychology Today Suicide Hotlines and Prevention Resources Around the World. — Watch the episode here   Listen to the podcast here     The Art Of Moving Forward With Marcia Boarders And Tina Fornwald Introducing Guest Host Marcia I want to introduce to you to my host. Ms. Marcia Borders is an upcoming podcaster and she is going to interview me about moving forward. Before we start that, I would like for Marcia to share a little bit about herself and her podcast because I want you to check her out too. Thank you so much. Thank you for allowing me the time to have a conversation with you regarding your show, my podcast and moving forward. My name is Marcia Borders. I am the host for What’s Grief Amongst Friends. It’s a podcast based around people dealing with grief and hopefully, my podcast will touch others and let them know that they are not alone in this process. They’re not alone on this journey because you get bogged down and you get to feeling like there’s no one there for you or you don’t know how to interpret your feelings, the things that you’re going through. After my husband passed in January 2024, his name was Noah, I had a not-so-great reaction where I felt left out. I felt deserted and I felt like, “Where’d everybody go?” Everybody went on with their life. I was inspired. I can’t really tell you how, but I was inspired to do something for other people who have had a significant loss. Part of that was starting a podcast and that’s what this is all about. Tina has been so gracious in allowing me the time and space to speak with her about her process, how she dealt with things, and the next step moving on. Thank you so much, Tina, for having me. I appreciate you. You are welcome. Thank you for introducing yourself to our community. I’m in your hands. Deciding To Move Forward From Grief I have seen a couple of your videos and I understand about you and Mark’s relationship and what you went through. I’ve been watching your TikToks and you’ve been giving us the journal readings and that’s been awesome. I wanted to journal, but it hasn’t gotten to me yet to sit and do that. I do have a journal, I just haven’t sat down with it and taken it to the next step. At some point, could you share with us when you decided or how it came about that you decided to move forward and to begin a new relationship? Can you share with us when the decision was made for you to move forward with your life? Actually, that answer does start with Mark. The way that it starts with him, there was a lot of chronic heart conditions in his family and he was certain that he was not going to make it to the age of 60. I didn’t want to hear anything about it, but he had a cousin that passed in his early 30 around Thanksgiving. Both of his parents had passed because of heart-related issues and Mark was certain he was not going to make it to 60. Our plan was actually to stop working in Pennsylvania and move to Virginia to a smaller property that we owned and to be able to just be in a place that he didn’t have to work and live off of my income because the kids were getting older. Since Mark was so certain he was going to leave this world early, we talked about what my life would look like in his absence. In those conversations, he clearly expressed, “I would want you to get remarried. I would want you to be happy. I would want you to have love in your life. I would want you to be free to do whatever you want to do.” Those were some tearful conversations because I did not want to hear that. When he did pass, I was turning 51. When he passed, it was like, I’m so glad that we had those conversations because it can be a struggle with the concept. Mark and I were together for 32 years and thinking of being in a relationship outside of one with him can elicit a lot of guilt, second thoughts, what should I do? I don’t want to do something that would make him upset. All those things were clear. That conversation I had with my husband was the setup for me to know that when that time was right, I can move forward. I want to be clear with that because I know everyone that reads this show is not a widow or widower. They are people supporting widows. There are children of people who have lost loved ones because Mark was my husband, but that means my children lost a parent and somebody else lost a sibling. Widowhood is that community. I know that there are people from all places of this hood.         I