Being Widowed While Getting Divorced with Robin Eileen Bernstein

Robin reads an essay that was published in Narratively about becoming a widow while she was in the process of getting divorced. Her essay opens up questions about how we navigate griefs that don’t fit in any boxes. Robin’s almost ex-husband had a girlfriend and they were planning on getting married, but his unexpected death changed everything. Robin shares how she included the girlfriend in as many decisions as possible, how she acknowledged that the girlfriend’s heart was the broken heart. Robin even bought a burial plot for the girlfriend next to her husband. Robin Eileen Bernstein is a writer in New York City with bylines in The New York Times (including the Modern Love column), The Washington Post, Boston Globe Magazine, Salon, The Daily News, Newsday, Weekly Humorist, Narratively, Next Avenue and more. Several of her pieces explore her unusual experience of being widowed while getting divorced. She's also working on a memoir about growing up 1970s Rockaway, NY, when she was a quiet teen who pursued her unlikely dream of being a drummer in a rock-n-roll band. An excerpt was a shortlisted finalist in Craft Magazine’s 2023 Setting Sketch Challenge.  Robin has read her essays aloud at storytelling events in New York City and beyond, is an award-winning speechwriter, and was twice a first-round judge in the Erma Bombeck Writing Competition. In the visual arts, her figure drawings have been published in Persimmon Tree and Linea. More at robineileenbernstein.com. Thank you for letting us be in your ears. Coffee, Grief and Gratitude is a created by Anne Gudger and Maria Gibson, a mom/daughter duo who talk about grief. You can find them on Facebook at Coffee and Grief. Please join their private Facebook page: Coffee and Grief Community. If you’d like to learn more about their grief writing group that happens in October, please go to: https://writeyourgriefout.thinkific.com/ You can also email Anne and Maria at: [email protected] Anne’s memoir, THE FIFTH CHAMBER, a memoir of loss and love is available wherever you buy your books. Please review THE FIFTH CHAMBER on Amazon and Goodreads. No matter where you bought your copy, or if you read it from the library, you can review it on those sites. We deeply appreciate you taking the time. Thank you for liking and sharing the podcast!