S5E6 I Was Built for This Moment: Suzie’s Journey Through Loss and Solo Parenting

In this episode of the Solo Dad Podcast, Matt sits down with Suzie Schumaker for a deeply honest Solo Mom conversation about love, loss, faith, caregiving, and raising kids after the death of a spouse.Suzie shares the story of meeting her husband Eric as kids in their Orthodox church community, building a life together, grieving the loss of their first daughter, and later facing Eric’s cancer diagnosis during the isolation and restrictions of COVID. Their story is filled with devotion, humor, faith, hard decisions, and the kind of grit widowed parents often discover only after life gives them no other choice.This conversation touches on what it means to move forward with grief, not move on from love. Suzie talks about “living in the encore,” helping her daughters process loss through therapy and community, making a major move after Eric’s death, and learning to believe: “I was built for this moment.”Through the CLIMB lens, this episode lives in Courage, Integration, Movement, and Building—finding the strength to keep going, carrying love forward, making the next right decision, and creating a life where grief and living can both exist.For widowed parents, solo moms, solo dads, and anyone navigating life after loss, this episode is a reminder: survival counts, your kids need your example, and you are enough.Support the showReady for more than just listening? Explore the CLIMB framework and support options at https://solodad.life/