Whenever I’m speaking to someone about blogging, my number one suggestion is to read as many blogs as possible. During my most recent search for WordPress blogs, I stumbled upon a blog that captured my interest and my heart. It’s titled “Letters to Rachel: A husband reaches out to his wife as part of the ultimate long-distance relationship” in which the author writes a daily letter to his wife who passed away unexpectedly in January 2021. I cannot stop reading it. He writes letters to her like he is calling her at the end of a long day, going over what happened and why. Every entry begins “Dear Rachel”. His first post was shortly after his wife died and is absolutely heart-wrenching. When I first found this blog, I read for hours with tears in my eyes. It is that compelling.

My favorite posts are the ones when he writes about how something is changing that she loved. He wrote a lot about her beloved dog, Chompers, and how he’s dealing with her absence. He writes about the changes he’s making around the house they shared. His commitment to writing his wife is stunning. He is still writing posts to this day, more than a year after her death.

Many times, I attempt to name why this blog is poignant, so sad yet hopeful (really, I try to explain it to Malcolm and why I continue to read it though it makes me sad). The best reasons I can come up with are that this husband writes as if no one else is reading this, just him and his wife. It feels organic. And special. Like it’s a privilege to know of Rachel through the letters of her husband. My heart breaks a bit every time he ponders what his experience would have been if his wife were still there. There’s an opportunity to connect with someone I’ve never met, and to see commonalities of dealing with grief. Some of the things he writes to his wife, I’ve thought when I was grieving.

But the thing that mesmerizes me most is reading all the things he loved and continues to love about her. He writes she was religious, independent, and adventurous. I almost feel like I know her through his adoring eyes. He is now beginning to consider the idea of dating again. His family tries to set him up with singles events, and he has become open to it. This blog is about pain and grieving, but it is also filled with hope. And life. And all the brutal, gorgeous things that make us human.

Thanks for reading!

xMae