Dr. Tina Fornwald welcomes author and broadcaster Jack Church for an honest conversation about finding healing after loss following the passing of his wife. Jack shares how writing daily letters became the foundation for his book, Year One of Grief, and offers honest insight into navigating sorrow, stepping out of isolation, and opening your heart to new possibilities. Whether you’re newly widowed, years into your grief journey, or supporting someone who has experienced profound loss, this conversation offers compassion, practical encouragement, and hope that healing is possible. They address common misunderstandings about how men grieve, the physical release found in tears, and why taking simple steps outdoors can help rebuild daily life. Together, Dr. Tina and Jack explore faith, resilience, and the courage to embrace a new chapter while honoring the past. 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   From Widower To Hope Again: Jack Church On Surviving Grief, Healing After Loss & Finding Love Again Our conversation is with Jack Church from K-Love. Jack is a widower. Jack has 30 years of experience walking on this journey. What Jack also has is showing us how to hope again, how to walk back into the light, and entertain the possibility of love. Let’s get into this conversation now.     Jack, welcome to the Widowhood. Thank you so much. It’s a pleasure to join you. It really is. For somebody that’s tuning in and they’re going, “Pleasure to join you to the Widowhood,” what would make you say that? What would be the backstory to say that’s welcoming? The backstory. See, the front story was you’re warm and inviting. We’ll stick with the front story. As far as the backstory, I know a lot has happened in your life. Take us back to how the moment in your life shifted in the path that you’re on now. Understanding The Sudden Weight Of Spousal Loss As you know, I lost my first wife of over 30 years. It was October of 2019. For those of us who have experienced loss like that, it’s incomprehensible the amount of grief that you will experience. It was hard. I was working in local television as a TV weather guy in Oregon at the time. I was her full-time caregiver as well for about eight months leading up to her passing. I’m doing that in the day and the evening and doing the weather at night and praying and praying that she’s going to be fine. It didn’t work out that way. I lost her. I’m like, “This hurts way more than I ever thought it could. I will never forget, Tina. I do not know why this popped into my head. She and I used to talk about which one of us would go first. I now realize I would say, “Hopefully I’ll go first. I want you to live a full life.” Now, knowing the pain of the loss, it’s like that’s an unfair statement. It really is because it is so hard. I would never wish that upon anyone to go through this, but for any of us that have been married for any length of time, it’s inevitable. It’s going to happen. I mean, it really is, unless you go down in a plane crash, a car crash, something like that, one of us in a relationship will experience that loss. Thank you for sharing that, Jack. Let’s go back a little bit further. First of all, what is her name? Her name is Pam. What was life like meeting Pam and before her passing? I met her in high school. We went to two different high schools, two different counties. My dad had an industrial supply company. Her dad was a bivocational preacher, but he was also a purchasing agent for a local factory. My dad called on him, and they mentioned that my parents had a son. Reverend Prince, Claude Prince, said, “I’ve got a daughter.” The parents went out to dinner, and they said maybe they should meet. An arranged relationship, basically. The thing is, my parents gave me her number and I waited like six months to ever call her. I was very shy. I was getting ready to be a senior in high school, and I finally called her. Our first date, I still remember. We went to Jackson, Tennessee. We saw the movie Star Wars, and we ate at a restaurant called Skeeter’s. It was magical. She was great. We just had a lot of fun. We laughed a lot. We had fun, and we dated. Roll forward, though. Senior year high school, senior prom night. I’m getting ready to go off to college in Jackson, where we would go on our dates, which is like 40 miles from the town we lived in, which to high school kids, that seems like an eternity. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do. I suggested on our prom night, said, “We probably should break up since I’m going to be going to Jackson.” I know we broke up. What was her response? It’s funny. I could probably cry thinking about it. She was shattered. She was like, “Really?” I went, “Yeah. I’m going to be in Jackson. You do not know where you’re going to be. We probably should do this.” Roll forward, though. The other thing is different. She was a Christian. I was not a practicing Christian at the time. Not really a true believer. I think God had his hand in that as well because sometimes I felt a little pressure because her dad was