Widowhood Coffee And Chat: Reflections From Another Year Of Life After Loss With Joi Brooks

Widowhood Real Talk with Tina | Joi Brooks | Life After Loss

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Every year, Tina Fornwald welcomes back Joi Brooks for an honest and heartfelt check-in on life after loss. In this year’s conversation, Joi shares candid reflections on moving forward after years of caregiving, navigating the complexities of travel and social life without her late husband, and redefining what happiness looks like at this stage of her journey. Together, Tina and Joi discuss guilt, grief, self-discovery, and the importance of staying true to oneself while remaining open to new opportunities. This annual conversation offers comfort, insight, and solidarity for anyone learning to live fully in the aftermath of widowhood.

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.Β 

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.

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Watch the episode here

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Listen to the podcast here

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Widowhood Coffee And Chat: Reflections From Another Year Of Life After Loss With Joi Brooks

Hello, Widowhood. Our conversation with Joi Brooks is my annual guest. I am looking forward to sharing this discussion with you. Joi is going to talk about life after being a caregiver, how to find yourself afterwards, and doing things after your spouse has passed. Let us get into this conversation now.

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Widowhood Real Talk with Tina | Joi Brooks | Life After Loss

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Annual Check-In With Joi Brooks: Gala Event & Travel Challenges

Joi, welcome back to the Widowhood.

I have not left. I am still here.

That is good. You are the only person that I have back every year.

Really?

Yes.

Isn’t that sweet? You should be my neighbor.

Would you be mine?

We could go for walks together.

We are recording, but I am really hoping that you get to come to our event next year, May 2026, here in Northern Virginia. We are having a gala, our first official big event, celebrating the widowhood, celebrating my 60th birthday, and a fundraiser. It is a 60s theme party. Excited about that. More details to follow. I would love to finally get to meet you in person, instead of so far in New York.

I am such a homebody. It really takes dogs to get me out of this.

You can bring the dog with you. You do not have to leave them at home.

Did you hear him? You want to go? No. You just stayed there.

I am saying this also for the widowhood. I know traveling can be a challenge after our loved one is no longer here. That is why a lot of times you will see galas during the holidays, but those can be super triggering, thinking about the last time you went to a holiday party with your loved one. It is not during the holidays.

I intentionally did not want a formal dress up because often we remember the last time we dressed up with our spouse. We are not doing that. It is in May. There is really not a lot going on May 16th in the middle of the month. It is a 60s theme party. Your psychedelic or your colors, it is fun stuff. We intentionally tried to hit every mark to make it more appealing.

Also, giving people time to think because this may be some people’s first time traveling since their spouse passed. Why not be for something fun? The Virginia Beach area is super nice. There are a lot of things to check out in the area. We already have hotels booked. If you go to our website, I will send you a link. Widowhood Real Talk with Tina Events is called Hope Grows Here. You can purchase your ticket now. You can reserve your hotel room and start budgeting and planning for everything.

There are a few stories behind what you just said about traveling.

Let us talk about it.

When I was younger, I traveled a lot on my own before I got married. I had lots of things happen to me that I will not mention here. Not good things that could have been a showstopper had I not been a positive thinker. When I look back, I think, β€œThat was not good.” I am surprised I made it through that. It happened like I traveled by myself three times out of the country. Every time I traveled, something happened. As you know, now that Harry is gone, my friends, my family, and everybody are telling me, β€œYou should travel.” I am like, β€œNo.” First, there are a lot of places I would love to go. I would love to go enjoy them with someone who can enjoy them with me on the same level.

It’s nice to go to places and enjoy them with someone who can appreciate them on the same level. Share on X

That is the difference.

Somebody who can either compliment me, I do not mean, “You look lovely today,” talking about. They will be my better, I will be their better, it will be a benefit to both of us as opposed to going and just going with a group of people that would annoy the heck out of me in any case. I am like, I would love to go to Greece and Italy, but I would want to go there, and I would want to see specific things that most people would not want to see.

They might want to sightsee, but I would want to sightsee specific things. Archaeological things. Like, β€œLet us go to this open field with one column in it.” β€œWhy?” β€œIt’s because it used to be blah, blah. It is in the middle of nowhere. I do not care. Let us go.” That is why I said, β€œThey would be dragging me to the Coliseum,” which would not be bad. Why would they drag me to the Acropolis, which would not be bad? I would also want to do other things that they might consider.

Life After Loss: Redefining “Hard” And Finding Your Own Way

You make a good point. Traveling after your spouse passes is a whole different thing. I know many people who will not travel since their spouse passed because it is too hard. It makes me wonder what life looks like when we try a new thing for the first time versus when we try it the second, third, and fourth. My question to you is, what is something that was very hard to do after Harry passed, but you learned to do in your own way?

I want to elaborate more on the travel. Harry and I never traveled. We never went anywhere together. Unless it was to his sister’s house. Never traveled, never took a vacation. Not once. We had a boat, we had a motorcycle, we had this, we had that. He got everything he wanted, every toy he wanted. I got that. I did not need things because I had gone to a number of places before we got married.

My bucket list was more or less okay. If Harry and I had traveled together, he would have ruined it for me because I would have had to worry about him all the time. Again, that is not what I want to do. If I am going to spend $5,000, $10,000, I am not going to say, β€œIt is okay,” or I have to convince myself, β€œI had such a great time.” It is like I am still looking for that perfect person to travel with. What are some things that I want to do after Harry passed?

If this exists, what is something that you enjoy doing with Harry? After he passed, you needed to learn how to do it by yourself.

Everything we did together was his favorite. We used to hike. He stopped doing it because I enjoyed it too much. It is funny that over the past five years, everything has been like coming into a different perspective. There was the year that he was the saint. He was such a good man. Now I am looking back, saying, β€œHe did a few spiteful things. It was all about Harry.” He knew that. I let him get away with it.

Everything we did together was his favorite. Share on X

You make an interesting point because when they first passed, it was hard to remember the balance of things.

It is all good, all bad. You are now beginning to see the gray. It is not black, it is not white. There is sometimes gray. In many cases, like he loved to boat, he loved to fish. I have been fishing with him a few times. He ordered me a boat, but he destroyed the whole thing. I was like, β€œHarry, I do not want to fish. I will go with you. I will help you. Whatever you need, just ask me, but I do not want to fish.” He would be like, β€œHold it this way, hold it that way. Come over here, go over there. Do not do this, do this.” I was like, β€œI am not having fun here.” I am nervous. He is going to yell at me for something I have not thought of doing. This fishing is not my thing.

Joi’s Evolution: From Caretaker To Self-Discovery

Where you are at now, if possible, who was Joi the year Harry passed? What does Joi look like now?

The year that Harry passed, Joi was Harry’s caretaker. The year after, a little less, and now I am totally everything that I have ever wanted myself to be. I have reservations about doing some things. Things that I would have done, things that I did when I was younger, not things that I would have done, but did when I was younger. I think those are not things I should be doing now. I do not need to go to a rock concert now. I do not need to do that.

I have been to rock concerts, thank you very much. They were loud and annoying. Speaking of annoying, they were loud and annoying. I do not need to go now. It is not that it is not fun or that it is fun. I have been there. They were loud, they were crowded, they were drug-induced, alcohol induced. I do not need that now. They were then, but not now. Things that I like to do, now I am totally capable of identifying what they are. They are not big projects. They are not big to-dos.

It is interesting that you mentioned things that Harry liked that you did not like. Has your food choice changed? What did it look like when you were with Harry, accommodating versus what you are doing now?

Meat and potatoes. Monday, Tuesday, meat and potatoes. Wednesday, potatoes and meat. Thursday, rice. β€œMeat, let us do potatoes tomorrow.” β€œOkay.” When Joi met Harry, I was a vegetarian. I am not a vegetarian now, but I slipped back into mostly vegetables, very concerned about non-processed food, one source type of thing. Where Harry would be like, β€œJust buy Rice-A-Roni. Do not make rice from scratch.”

I will tell you, we are having a steak and cauliflower on the menu. There is one of the entrees. It looked really nice. Just saying, just drop that in.

Let me in over here.

Let me say this. The year they passed, it is devastating. People feel that when they start focusing on themselves, guilt is implied. Was guilt part of your experience, or were you liberated to do the things that you enjoy doing?

I do not think it is guilt. I think it is a matter of perceiving the experience again and looking at it differently and thinking, β€œI certainly did make the right decision,” or β€œI wish I had done something differently there. I could have been better at that.” All these different ways of looking at it. Is there unadulterated guilt? I do not think so.

It has been ever harder for your grief journey.

Yeah. When I was caretaking, sometimes I looked back on that, and I thought to myself, β€œI did not do the best I could.” I keep thinking to myself, β€œIs there an instruction book for that?” I cannot argue. A lot of other women would have been like, β€œI am not doing that.”

The Unspoken Truth: Caregiving, Addiction, And Unfulfilled Life

Let us talk about being the caretaker for your love. What are some things that you just had no idea about?

In the case of Harry, these are things that I do not necessarily talk about over the years. Harry was an alcoholic throughout his life, and throughout his disease when he got cancer. At first, he fought it, and then he gave in to it. In the beginning, it was so great. He is going to turn it around. He is going to get better. He is not going to drink. We are going to have such a great life together. The biggest problem that Harry and I had was that he would choose alcohol over me.

He would do something where he felt comfortable having drinks and getting drunk. I had no part in that. When he was going through chemotherapy radiation, the first round, he stopped smoking and drinking. He was a whole new person. The day that they gave him a bill of health, we drove home, and he stopped at the liquor store, where he bought a bottle. I crashed. I was like, β€œThis is the way it is going to be.”

Thank you for sharing that. It is more than our spouse passing. There are so many pieces of that in between. It is not easy to revisit those, but it can be very important for us in our journey forward in life to be honest about what happened. It is not easy, or something we are thinking about that first year, but in reflection, looking back. Correct me if I am wrong, did you grieve Harry’s passing, but the life that you never got to have with him because of the disease that he was tethered to?

That is truly the mindset that I have to this day. When I say, β€œHarry, if you had only X, Y, Z, we could have had such a great life together.”

Five years later, you are still managing the what-if. For someone, let us say year two, where their mind is starting to operate accustomed to norms, and they are now grieving what did not happen, what they wanted. From your experience, any suggestions or recommendations for them?

Some people can get pretty angry. Harry was not only a drinker, but he also got sick with cancer. What I went through was something very specific. Many other people, perhaps their husbands passed away unexpectedly, or maybe they had a disease, whatever. The point being that I was in the last three years of his life, so busy taking care of everything that the year after, I was still getting my house organized.

I mean, the house, I need the house in my head organized. The year after that, I began to replay events. I started putting my emotions in order. One of the most important things for me was to say, β€œYou just got to forgive the guy because it was not like he was intentionally trying to ruin my life. He was intentionally trying to ruin his own life. I happened to be in the way.”

That right there, Joi, is so important to differentiate. This was self-induced. This was not something he was attacking me with. This was not something, more or less, I was collateral damage in this scenario. It was not something intentional where he sought to do me harm.

That is not like him.

That perspective is important because if not, I would think the hurt, the anger, the bitterness to think about those years, all this time he was attacking where he was not able to survive himself.

The sad thing is that you could interpret what he did as vindictive, in which case, he would be at fault. You could. Just the same way that I said to myself, β€œI should not have said that I could have done this better.” I know that. I was intentional, but at the moment, I did not think things through. When I thought things through, it was just too much. Everybody said, β€œWhy don’t you just leave him?” I would be like, β€œThis guy cannot make it without me.” They are like, β€œThat is not your problem.” Like, β€œYeah, it is for better or for worse. That is part of the marriage. I cannot pretend that I was stupid when I got married, and did not understand what was going on. I did not know who he was.”

Holding The Line: Vows, Responsibility, And Rescuing Yourself

That honesty takes all of the mask off. We knew the person that we married. We knew when we stood there that we had made these vows. What do we do when the worst happens? Do we really hold to the vows? That is why to me, widows or widowers should be celebrated. We did not quit. Maybe somebody would have said that we should have quit or whatever, but we took that covenant seriously. We took that responsibility to heart, and caring for someone as they are dying is hard. It is hard when the marriage was good. It is hard when the marriage is bad. You are cleaning up.

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Widowhood Real Talk with Tina | Joi Brooks | Life After Loss

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You are working, you are taking care of them, you are taking care of them financially, and everything. When it is a man, they often feel like they may not be the man in the house because they are not providing. Nobody wants to be taken care of all the time. They are watching their own life slip away. They pass, and the person remaining needs to rescue themselves. How did you go from being focused on being Harry’s caretaker to now? What do I do with Joi when you do not know how to be his caretaker?

I became my caretaker. I realized, because I thought to myself, β€œI could probably go out. Harry wanted me to go out and find myself another person to fall in love with again.” I am thinking, β€œThat is not going to solve a problem.” If it happens, it is lovely. That is not the solution to the current situation. It is not a solution in itself. A relationship is a wonderful thing that happens. You do not go out and buy a relationship.

That is another conversation.

There are people who require relationships. I am not that type of person. I thought to myself, β€œLet us put that aside because right now, that is not something I want.” If it happens, like I said, it happens. It is not something I need to go do. It is not something I need to plan. As a matter of fact, I thought to myself, β€œWhat happens if I put myself out there, then I lose the person again? I am right back to where I was.” It is not so much that I do not want the relationship because I might lose them again. The point is, you do not get into a relationship to complete yourself.

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Widowhood Real Talk with Tina | Joi Brooks | Life After Loss

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Alone In A Two-Person World: Harsh Realities Of Widowhood

It did not solve the grief journey either.

The relationship does complete you, but you do not get into the relationship to complete you. It happens on its own. I thought, β€œPut that aside.” Honestly, again, all of the things that my friends tell me, β€œYou should travel.” I am like, β€œI need the right person to travel with.” β€œYou should be looking for the right person.” β€œThat happens on its own.” All of these things. β€œI want to move, but I do not want to move by myself, nor do I want to move with someone else.”

The issue is that life is very unpredictable. If you are planning to spend your life with someone else so that they can protect you and be there for you, when you get to my age, I am 70, just looking for someone to be there for you, it is not a good thing because they could pass away. Anything can happen. Now you are stuck again. You have not solved the problem, and you are doing it all over again. I have been careful not to fall into that trap, while other people do not see it as a risk. They see it only as a benefit.

They do not see the risk at all. I see it as a risk because if I am going to put myself out there to have another relationship, I know they are going to pass. β€œAm I ready for that? I am not ready for that.” Risk. Shove it away. If I were ten years younger, I really mean this, if I had not passed away, I would be in my 50s, in a totally different situation. Right now, I am 70. Am I going to go find myself a 50-year-old man? No. Some people do, but no. Am I going to find myself a 60-year-old man? Possibly. Most likely, I am going to find myself a 70, 75, or 80. Come on, I am taking care of them.

No one wants to be a nurse afterwards.

That is why I say it is not something I am looking for. That does not mean that I do not literally put myself out there looking for interesting people. I need men and women, but I am not talking about sex. I need interesting people. If I can find interesting people who share the way I think, or at least accept the way I think, I could be a little weird, accept the way I think, so that I can have a relationship with them, whether it is just talking, texting, or doing something. Just a very simple relationship. I am like, that is really what I want.

You bring up the point that it does not solve the situation. Let us name what those situations are. If I am understanding the grief, the being alone, the having to do things, and there is nobody else to call as a backup. It is all on you. Those are harsh realities that widows or widowers need to face,Β  whether your children are adults or if they are younger, or have no children. What was a two-person scenario, you get left with this life that now you are trying to hold up that was built by two people.

That is a sad, interesting sum. My husband had a favorite nephew. We stay in touch with them, celebrate Christmas with them. We would do things in the summer with them. It was his go-to relative, his nephew. His nephew was married and had kids. His nephew’s children grew up. Recently, after Harry had gone, this past year, one of his nephews got married. I am like, β€œI am really having a conversation with Harry.”

I am like, β€œHarry, your nephew is getting married. I have got to go.” This is going to be really difficult for me. One, I am not social. Two, I do not know a soul there except for your nephew, his wife, and the two kids, and the mother and father. That is it. I know no one else. I am not going to drag someone who does not know them with me. That is stupid. I am like, β€œI have got to do this.” Again, I am not social. I tend to be a sour social person.

I mean that. The one with the sour face at a social event, going, β€œWhat am I doing here?” It is not me. I went. It was at a lovely place. I walk up the steps to go to the reception, where they have photographs of everyone in the family who has passed. There is a big picture of Harry. I am like, β€œI am done. Can I go home now?” I am like, β€œI cannot, I have got to do this.” If I was sour before I got there, I was done.

Totally devastated. Did not expect that to happen to me. Why was I devastated? It’s because of all the things that could have been. I walk in, and I am a little choked up. I walk in, and I realize I am alone. Everyone else is with someone. I am alone. I do not usually, I am sour, I do not socially eat. First of all, I do not go out. I do not like to go to restaurants to eat.

I just do not. COVID had only made it worse. I like to cook for myself. I am a good cook. I love to cook. I can turn anything into anything. I really can. We go there. As I am walking, before I even get upstairs to see the photograph, I walk into the place, and there is a walk with 85,000 different types of food. I am like, β€œI am going to gag.” It is not like, β€œLook, it is a shrimp.” It is like, β€œShrimp, steak, and lamb.” I am like, β€œOh my.”

Sensory Overload & Social Challenges: A Widow’s Wedding Experience

Was that sensory overload before Harry died, or was that always a thing?

I was never good at eating out. Sensory overloads, yes. When I go to a restaurant, I am like, β€œOoh.”

You make some good points. One, I will circle back to our event in May. There are a lot of people who do not know anybody but me who are coming because there are people who have watched this show, and there are people who have maybe seen some different social media content. There are people who have been local in the area. That is a common challenge that many people will endure in taking this venture to celebrate what we have been doing in this community.

When you are going, everyone is sharing something very specific with you. You know that it takes it all off.

That is the part that everybody would converge in this spot, knowing we all went through the same times to get here. The meaning of it, but the triggering of it and everything. Like, β€œYou finally got up enough energy to do this, now this happens?”

I am not done yet. I am sitting at the table, the music starts, it is very different from weddings that I am used to. Very loud, lots of light, kids jumping up, everybody taking pictures. Everybody has their phone out. Everybody is crowding the dance floor, taking pictures with their phone. Who is not dancing is taking pictures. Even while they are dancing, they are taking pictures. I am like, β€œThis is just so alien to me.”

I just sat there like a lump, getting more sour thinking to myself, β€œHow do I get myself out of this?” I do not drink, I do not know any of the music, so I am sad. I am going to get up. I am sitting there. At some point, I make it through the whole thing, and I am sour. They must have thought, β€œShe got up on the wrong side of the bed today, didn’t she?” β€œWasn’t she miserable?” Maybe they were too busy. I know that they must think I was there to ruin their day.

I feel bad about that. Wait, I get up eventually, and I say goodbye to everybody. Right before cake, around the cake. They cut the cake. I decide this is perfect. They cut the cake, and I can get out. I get up. As I get up, one of the other women my age comes over to me, a mutual friend. Who I should have been sitting with. I sat at the table with the nephew and his wife. Everybody was coupled up but me. I was with the single friends.

Anyway, if they listen to this, I am sorry, do not feel guilty. It is okay. There is just an end to the story that is just bizarre. I got up. She would leave. She was going to the bathroom. As I am getting close to the bathroom, one of my friends, my age, runs up, β€œOh my God.” I look at her, and she is full of blood. I am like, β€œJoanne, what happened?” I did not want to make her names, but I just did. What happened? She goes, β€œShe fell down the stairs.” I am like, β€œWhat? Who?” I am like, β€œTake me.” I am like, β€œAre you okay?” She was, β€œNo.”

I grab her, I hold her, we go down the stairs. It is marble steps. It is this big Italian thing going on here. Marble steps all the way down. What happened was that she was bringing her friend down to get her an Uber, the friend missed the last two steps, and fell. This is probably close to an 80-year-old woman. I am using the term because I wanted to understand how much blood. She bashed her head on the marble floor. Now she is prone at the doors. No one could come in without seeing this woman. I am like, β€œSomeone is trying to tell me something.”

You are not going to any more weddings. That is what I hear.

What just happened here? She goes to the hospital. I go home, and I am still thinking, β€œWhat just happened here?” I do not know. All I know is I think to myself, the concept of me not wanting to take risks was right there in front of my face. This is a little stupid nonsense that can happen that you do not think of when you are alone, because she is alone. Thank God she was with her friend. I was alone. I did not come with a friend.

They came together. That is the scary story. If anybody hears the story, they say, β€œ I am getting depressed, I am sorry.” I am merely saying that we need to realistically assess our lives as we get older. Not because you are a widower or a widow, because that can happen when you are young, your life looks different. What I am saying is the whole package here. Harry passed away when I was 67. I am not a young woman at 67.

I do need to take into account that maybe I only have fifteen more years to go. What does that look like? What do I want to do in those fifteen years? Maybe I have twenty. Maybe I will live until I am 115. I am not saying I am only going to make it until 80, but I am saying maybe I need to realistically assess what it is I am doing here and then make sure that I am happy about it because I am not spending that time miserable. If I need to pretend in the beginning, turn it around, I will. I do need to pretend because it is a matter of perception what makes you happy, what makes you unhappy.

What makes you happy or unhappy is a matter of perception. Share on X

Five Years Later: Contentment, Purpose, And New Beginnings

I think what made us happy in our 20s and 30s, which changes over life, is just like you mentioned about going to the rock band, one version of yourself. Now that is not something you would enjoy. Joi, how do you see yourself five years later on this journey after Harry’s life ended? Are you happy?

I am so content at the same time, but I worry about things. I am content because I think to myself, β€œI am true to myself. I am spiritually connected. I am doing good things. I have enough downtime to decompress.”

What are the good things you are doing?

I am eating right. I connect with friends and make sure that I am there for them. That is not about me. I have begun to study the Bible in a way that it is literal, it is literature, culture, and religion all mixed together. I am taking Hebrew. I am reading the Bible in Hebrew. I am reading a lot. Those are the things that I consider good things. I look every once in a while for some activity or an event that I might be interested in. I joined a book club. My podcast is very important. There are not a lot of things. I do not put a lot in my calendar. I do not enjoy being booked. A lot of people do. I do not enjoy being booked.

It is overrated. Tell us about your podcast because there may be people who don’t realize you sync up every year. This may be their first time hearing about Joi Brooks. They will go back and look at the other podcasts, go, β€œWhat were the other two conversations?” Tell us about your podcast.

The podcast is my way of meeting people. I have been down the rabbit hole, I get to the very bottom, like, β€œI get it now. This is how I am making friends. This is cool. I am good there.” When I finally made that realization, I was like, β€œThat is actually good.” I could think of a lot of unhealthy ways people reach out to meet other people.

What is your podcast called?

Email and Coffee. It started off five years ago as a way for me to market my business because my career was in email marketing. Five years ago was at the very end of my career because now I am more or less retired. I still do email marketing, but I am more retired than not. In any case, I really liked the name Email and Coffee because email was who I became, and coffee is what I drank. It just stuck.

It is pretty simple to tell people when you’re telling them, β€œWhat’s your podcast called?” β€œEmail and coffee.” They’re like, β€œIt’s not like some strange name.” It is a strange name, but it’s three words that you can remember. In any case, I started interviewing people and talking about marketing. It just ended up, I just wanted to talk to people. As I said, I wanted to find people that I was interested in, that I could talk with, that could have a conversation. It would be enlightening for me, them, and the world.

I appreciate you giving me some of your time for this annual check-in. Any questions you have of me, since you’re used to being a podcaster, I’m prepared to give you the reins.

Tina’s Journey: Future Plans And The Power Of Community

Now that you mentioned your age. Are you making plans to live out specific parts of your life? Do you have plans? β€œI’m going to do this one on this. I’m going to do that one on that.” Are you just taking it as it comes?”

My husband Mark passed at the age of 51. When we were together in my mind, I was going to work until I was 62. I had this glide path of my career that I wanted to stick to and do that. That motivation left the day he stopped breathing. I still want to go to work and do a good job. I get really good reviews. I’m on top, but that work until a long age is no longer in my scope. I want to be able to wrap up my career in the right timeline and then spend my time doing the things I do for widowhood.

I just finished writing my first book. I have five more, four more that I want to write. We have a memorial garden that we’re looking to develop here in Norfolk. I have more retreats for widows, travel with my now husband, sightseeing, do stuff, and enjoy life. That is what I would like to see my life consist of. Working in grinding and doing that. I think I’m just about ready to wrap up that season of my life and see where this will take me. The reason being, I, during my brief journey, have been blessed to have an immense community.

Large, huge things that have stayed with me and traveled. I pour out of the full cup, knowing that there are so many people who have lost their loved ones and they’re alone and would want somebody to be there. I love being able to have these conversations, and somebody feels like they’re the third person in the room, and they know that their villains matter and there are other people that feel like them. Being able to create that has turned into a lifelong work.

It’s very interesting how our lives can change unexpectedly. If we don’t fight our expectations and take opportunities when they come, or I should say if we don’t, we should sometimes check our expectations and open up to opportunities that just happen. That’s one of the things that’s on my radar. I’m constantly thinking, β€œThere’s going to be some opportunity that’s going to come.” There has not been one, but there’s been another. I just keep myself open.

It's very interesting how our lives can change unexpectedly. Share on X

Any other questions?

They don’t last forever. I’m not saying that these last for the rest of my life. They might be summertime. They may be a few months, but they’re very important and little facets of who I am.

I agree. Sometimes we can get so rigid about what we think things should be, and we can miss the opportunity that presents itself because it wasn’t on our list. I want to be open to what life presents and evaluate that as it comes along.

That’s where that’s not risky for me. Where people would plan it and only go with the plan. I’m more than willing to just like, I don’t know.

Any other questions, Joi?

No, that’s it, Tina. It’s been great.

Thank you. I’m going to say something to the people who joined us on this conversation, and then I’ll let you close it out. I want to say thank you for joining us in this conversation. I am so sorry for the person you love who is no longer here, who has brought you to this discussion, but you are welcome to be here. Your journey, your grief, your person matters. Please feel free to email me at WidowhoodRealTalk@gmail.com or write a comment in the show notes, reach out to Joi, maybe have coffee and talk about email with her, and see how that goes. We’re on this journey together. Thank you.

Thank you, Tina. That’s well said. I can’t say another thing.

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Important Links

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About Joi Brooks

Widowhood Real Talk with Tina | Joi Brooks | Life After LossHost of Email and Coffee Podcast | Conversations with Real Leaders, Thinkers & Experience-Sharers

Thank you for viewing this post. I am not a licensed therapist or professional life coach.

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 https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/suicide/suicide-prevention-hotlines-resources-worldwide

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Walk For Love 2025

Support grief awareness and Walk For Love in style. Proceeds help fund free grief support programs. Merchandise is available now, with new batches printing every 15 days β€” so order early to ensure you receive your items before the August kickoff on August 3,  2025

πŸ›οΈ How It Works

- Order anytime β€” Bonfire prints new merchandise every 15 days

- First shipping window: Orders placed by July 11 ship between July 1–11

- All items ship directly from Bonfire

- Order early to wear your gear for Walk For Love in August!

πŸ‘• Apparel – T-Shirts, Sweatshirts & Hoodies

πŸ›’ Order here: https://www.bonfire.com/walk-for-love-2025-1

πŸ’² Price: $23–$42

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Over 20 different colors

πŸ“ Notebook

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Great for journaling, writing affirmations, or gift-giving.

β˜• Mug

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πŸ’² Price: $19.99

Sip your morning coffee with a message of love and remembrance.

πŸšΆβ€β™€οΈ Travel Mug

πŸ›’ Order here: https://bonfire.com/walk-for-love-2025-travel-mug-1

πŸ’² Price: $24.99

Keep your drinks hot or cold while walking for love.

πŸ’§ Water Bottle

πŸ›’ Order here: https://bonfire.com/walk-for-love-2025-water-bottle-2

πŸ’² Price: $29.99

Hydration meets heart β€” perfect for walkers everywhere.

πŸ“£ Additional Notes

At checkout, encourage shoppers to select your board member's name from the referral dropdown to help us track outreach.

Use and promote hashtags: #WFL2025 and #WRTWT

Perfect for walking during the event or repping all year long.

Mental Health Walkathon to provide encouragement and inspiration for the grieving struggling with depression and isolation.

During the Walkathon, we walk together, united in our mission to support mental health. From August 3 - 9, 2025 we encourage you to walk one mile daily. Share your journey by posting a picture on your favorite social media platform with #WRTWT #WALKFORLOVE, and let’s inspire others to join us.

Funds from the Walkathon will allow Widowhood Real Talk With Tina to conduct an Annual Grief Garden and a Butterfly release ceremony and provide participants journals & pens.

Three ways to participate

Purchase merchandise ~ In Development

Donate: https://app.99pledges.com/fund/walkforlov

Make your pledge, 1-mile daily day August 4 – 10, and post #WRTWT #WALKFORLOVE: https://app.99pledges.com/fund/walkforlov

To Start your pledge team, email widowhoodrealtalk@gmail.com for details.

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