San Fransisco

What a beautiful group.  If you
are wondering why I am always in front,
my phone was used for all the Selfies...

San Francisco 

Golden Gate Bridge

A tour of the city.

Cable cars were a must.

One of Sue's favorites.

Blue Angels such a treat.

And Ghirardelli's Oh my what a treat.  I had a
Salt Caramel Sundae that I didn't want to share with
anyone.

Tell Your Heart To Beat Again

Have you ever heard the song "Tell your heart to beat again" by Danny Gokey? I listened to it and thought of my widows when we first began our travels.  It was like their identity was gone.  A friend's mom lost her husband almost 2 years ago.  She doesn't leave her house.  To all my widow friends, when you loose your spouse, no matter how long it's been, I hope you will "Tell your heart to beat again". It's OK.

Tell Your Heart To Beat Again

You're Shattered

Like you've never been before

The life you knew

In a thousand pieces on the floor

And words fall short in times like these

When this world drives you to your knees

You think you're never gonna get back

To the you that used to be.

Tell your heart to beat again

Close your eyes and breathe it in

Let the shadows fall away

Step into the light of grace

Yesterday's a closing door

You don't live there anymore

Say goodbye to where you've been

Tell your heart to beat again

Beginning

Just let that word wash over you

It's alright now

Loves healing hands have pulled you through

So get back up, take step one

Leave the darkness, feel the sun

Cause your story's far from over

And your journey's just begun

Tell your heart to beat again

Close your eyes and breathe it in

Let the shadows fall away

Step into the light of grace

Yesterday's a closing door

You don't live there anymore

Say goodbye to where you've been

Let every heartbeat

And every scar

Be a picture that reminds you

Who has carried you this far

Cause love sees farther that you ever could

In this moment heaven's working 

Everything for your good

Tell your heart to beat again

Close your eyes and breathe it in

Let the shadows fall away

Step into the light of grace

Yesterday's a closing door

You don't live there anymore

Say goodbye to where you've been

And tell your heart to beat again

Plans were made!

Being in Oakland on the day the Broncos were playing the Raiders was just too good to be true.  John & Sue held season tickets for years, rarely missing a game. Even when going through a bone marrow transplant, they did their best to never miss a game.  So Sue blessed us with tickets - fourth row up, for the game.
Family & friends worried about us being in Raiders territory.  They needn't worry.  Although boisterous, the Raider fans were congenial & quite good at bantering.  They youngest one was probably 8-10 and gave us his RAIDER's chant as we went in for breakfast.  The Widows immediately returned our BRONCO's reply.  We had the most enjoyable time.  Interacting with both Bronco fans & Raider fans. We even found us a Bronco fan at the BART station.  The best part of course was that we won the game.  These widows are not only wild but also very brave!

Introducing our 2 new widows

In November 2010 my brother Dan went to be with the Lord, after suffering with multiple melanoma. He left behind a wife Becky, two children, Jeff & Sandra & 4 granddaughters (that number is 6 now).

In October of 2012 my oldest brother John left this world after suffering from a rare blood cancer.  He left behind his wife Sue & two sons, Matthew & Joseph.

Now both of my brothers were devout Bronco fans.

Back to the bucket list train trip.  So were headed to California - Emeryville was the end of line. Just outside ofOakland.  Our trip was planned for the second weekend in October.  John's anniversary date was 10-11-12 & rightly so. He was a math teacher.  We began joking about going to Oakland, the Bronco's major rival.  One of the widows made the comment, wouldn't it be funny if the Broncos were playing that weekend.  A quick check of the schedule revealed that the Broncos were indeed playing in  Oakland on the day we would be there.

Sue is on the far left and Becky beside her.  So we welcome them to the our world of the Wild Widows (much younger version).

We lost another one!

We lost another one of our original widows.  Bina suffered a broken hip which she never fully recovered from it.  As the mother of 11 children, she provided a different spark.  Quite a few of our destinations were places she had always wanted to see but never had the opportunity.

We love you and miss you Bina.