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I wouldn't want my husband to find love again if I died.


Elo

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Hello, I am not a widow and hopefully I will not ever be so, but I did know grief when I lost my father. Though this post is about grief inside a marriage or romantic relationship. I'm married and very in love with my husband. I am lucky to be able to say that the feeling is mutual. Though, as all human beings sometimes, I find myself thinking about death on a regular basis. I am actually very aware that I can lose what I have at any moment in life, death can be imprevisible and time goes fast.
Unfortunately, I keep coming across stories of people who lost a spouse or a life partner. But often, after some time, those people have found love again.
And I realized that my reaction to that had always been an unpleasant tingle inside. It just breaks my heart for the deceased one. And putting myself in the situation, I realized that I wouldn't want my husband to find love again if I died. Not only finding love but also sharing a sexual relationship with somebody. (I also am 100% sure that if he died, I would not ever want to be with anybody else, no matter how young I am).
I'm 31 and he's 24.
So I feel awful about feeling that way, I know that it's extremely selfish of me, but the idea of him falling in love with someone else breaks my heart. If we would break up, the situation would be different, because it would be a choice of one of us or both to go separate ways. But if death came in between us, that we would both have wanted to stay together and that we loved each other madly, then I'm terrified by the idea of him kinda replacing me with another woman or other women. And yes, no matter what you will say, to me it's "replacing". Because even if he never forgets me, it would be the lips of another woman he would kiss, the body of another woman he would make love to, and another woman that his heart would love. I am profoundly monogamous and if our relationship is monogamous while we are both alive, why should it change after one of our death? My heart, mind and body are all intimately connected to one another, so I don't understand how you would want to "move one" romantically if you still love someone who died.
I think that part of what impacts my desire is that I myself can not fathom my love for him ever disappear or dissipate if he died. And if my love for him remains, then I could never get with anybody else, because him dead or alive, I would remain his wife, one man's woman. If I am faithful now, why shouldn't I remain so then? My heart could not open to love someone else the same way that it can't now. It would not even be a choice, and I wouldn't want it any differently. He's the love of my life and that goes beyond death to me.
I can't help picturing finding love after the passing of a spouse that we loved, as cheating.
I feel like very few people feel the way I do and understand me, I really need an honest response and opinion about my feelings. Though I ask for kindness and understanding. I really ache about feeling that way and the possibility that I could be replaced, and because I feel terrible about myself for being so selfish. Is "Moving on" really the only acceptable, the right thing to do? Is it, at all, acceptable or understandable not to want your loved one to "move on" if you were to die?
 

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I understand how horrible it would be to imagine him with another woman if you die, and honestly, I feel a little bit like that, but I am watching my mom who was married for 54 years suffer from being alone. She is lonely. She needs someone. My father is not there. He died. His life ended but hers did not. I wish she could meet someone, so she could enjoy her final years with a companion. He would never replace my father, but instead, he would be a different relationship. I know who she loves and will always. 

It's not cheating. You took a vow "til death do you part." When death ends the relationship, the remaining spouse is free to remarry and move forward. The contract ends. Of course the love will never end. Many people talk about feeling like they cheated, but they don't want to be alone forever. Isn't that kind of cruel to want that for someone? Really? 

People aren't replaced. They are never replaced. Someone else just comes along and a new relationship begins. If you truly love your husband, would you want him to suffer alone? Is that fair? Is that love? Or is it selfishness? I do not have the answer--just more questions. I look at my mom, and it seems natural that she would find someone else. When it comes to my own relationship--yeah, it's a little hurtful to think about, but I'm thinking in present terms, not future. 

Thoughtful post...

ModKonnie

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I believe we are truly in the minority.  I feel exactly the way you do about your husband finding love again after you die (and sharing intimacy with another woman).   I have been married for 27 years.  In 2012 I saw a human interest story about a woman who was dying of cancer, and had actually purchased a "free trip" for her husband, children and "new wife" whoever that might be  (to Disney World I think) and a "free day of pampering at a beauty salon" for the new wife.   Something to the effect that she loved him so much, wanted him to be happy again,  and wanted another woman to be "blessed" as much as she had been as his wife.  Of course by the time this story reached the media, the husband was already remarried and wanted to share the story with the world (haha).  I remember feeling sick about it  (unlike everyone on television).  I mentioned the story to my husband later that same day.  When I said, "I could never do something like she did" and he said, "Never say never", my world slowly crumbled.  I realized he didn't feel the same way I did about our marriage.  We have had much trouble from that day forward in our marriage because I can't get past it. Of course he tells me now that he feels the same way,  and that he just blurted that out without really thinking about it, but  I have never felt the same towards him since.  Something died in me that day.  

I have told my sister and my aunt how I feel (my mom died years ago,  and my dad found someone else not once but twice - that's another story), and they both have told me I shouldn't feel that way.  My aunt said she would be dead and wouldn't care, and my sister said I should love him in a way that I want his happiness no matter what.  I guess I'm horribly selfish, but I know that I would never fathom giving my body, heart and soul to another man - I would be extremely lonely for sure and wouldn't feel like living on myself.  But my relationship to my husband is so precious to me that  I would simply never be willing to share myself in that way with another human being.  God knows that.  

Don't beat yourself up.  There are people out there that feel the same way you and I do (I've even seen a couple of men online who are widowed, and say they have no interest in ever being with anyone else in that way either ).  But we are few and far in between.  

 

 

 

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I feel the same way but for other reasons as well. I believe in heaven and so does my husband. We both feel like we will see each other again so there is no need to find love again. I dont see anything wrong with someone finding love again but there is also nothing wrong with choosing not to fall in love again. I find it very honorable to remain faithful to your deceased spouse because after all you both will be reunited again with jesus. I know that might sound stupid to some people but that is just how my husband and I feel.No there is no guarantee that both of us will get into heaven but with god in our hearts we believe that we will see each other again. Choosing to not love again is not selfish. Choosing to love again is not betraying your dead spouse either. Either decision is ok. Dont listen to ignnorant people telling you how you should feel. As long as you and your partner are on the same page you have nothing to feel guily about. I could go on and on about why I would not want to fall inlove again and your reasons are just some of the other reasons I would choose to not find love again.  

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I'm in this club, too, lol. My husband passed on 3 months ago tomorrow. I know many people would say that my pure raw grief right now is making me say I'll never marry again, but I know I won't. I fully believe in heaven or an afterlife or in whatever term we want to give it. We love ( yes, present tense!) each other immensely...He was my world and I,his.  We did everything together and hated being apart for any reason. He always glowed when he would tell me I was the love of his life. He was and remains the love of my life. He took at least half of me with him.  Now, I know a psychologist or someone like that would be tempted to call it co-dependency or whatever catch phrase is in vogue. I hate to break it to them, but love IS co-dependency, it's the nature of love so I'm not really open to their suggestions that a soul-mate kind of love is somehow unhealthy. I can not imagine God giving us something so beautiful and life-sustaining ( and actually sacred) , only to tell us that in heaven, we won't be with that one person with whom we really shared our heart and soul. The idea that love is so...I don't know...disposable...?...depresses me. Frankly. I know that I can not ever love another man  in the same way. That can never be duplicated and anything less would certainly not be fair to a new guy because he would never have my whole heart and soul. My husband passed unexpectedly so we never really had any discussion of either of us marrying again, but I recall that after his brother passed, my husband was upset that his widow remarried within a very few years. He felt that this indicated that her love was superficial. We only had a few days to absorb my own husband's impending passing, but I made him promise to come for me when it was my time ( and frankly, I would not mind if that time were soon...not that I am going to do anything, just sharing an honest thought. ). He promised he would.  He knew he was carrying my heart with him.  As I said earlier, I am certain that we don't die...we shed our earthly bodies, yes, but our spirit lives on in heaven and I believe that what makes us *us* stays the same. However happy and satisfactory our marriages on earth will, so much more joyous will they be in God's heaven, imo. So...no, I can not imagine telling him that I would want him to remarry, because I wouldn't. And I know him well enough to know that he would not remarry..,please forgive me for sounding cocky, but I knew how very deeply he loved me. 

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Elo, I am 58 and I just lost my wife of 32 God-sent beautiful years together, officialy, on December 4th  2019. We were together, starting out as just friends, for 38 years. We were blessed to have fallen in love and started dating on December 10th, 1982 and from that moment on we were each other's whole world! We knew only after about 3 weeks of dating we wanted to be married. By the time we were married on September 19th, 1987, we knew each other so well. We were so much alike in so many ways and people all around us could see how much in love we were. The way they saw us in public was the way we were in private. We had the strongest marriage among our family and friends and even to them our love was legendary. We never did well apart from one another and though we were an Army family, I was blessed with not having to be deployed for more than 30 days. We were also blessed with 6 children together, 3 children-in-law and one grandchild. My dear wife was just 7 months my senior. The secret to our ever loving marriage - we put God first in everything in our lives starting with each of us praying for the ideal mate and being shown by God that who we truly wanted was hiding in plain site in front of one another!

Well, now you have our background. In just 30 minutes,  just past midnight on December 2nd my entire life and heart was torn asunder. No one, not even my sweet wife saw it coming as she was always remarkably healthy. The heart attack that took her instantly was so severe that the doctors told us that no matter where it happened in my arms or in the emergency room, the result would have been the same. I only had her on life support against her wishes until December 4th after I exhausted all earthly hope of her recovery.  I'm still in shock and denial as I'm writing you, but talking about it releases some of the many emotions I'm experiencing. It was rare that she and I discussed this topic, since it brought tears to our eyes, but she told not very long ago that if she happened to die first, she knew I'd be devastated,  but if I found happiness again with someone else, she wouldn't mind and she would want that for me. That's how much a treasure of a wife she was. But, I feel as you do. I then told her that is a moot point. I've said this to her then as I've said it a million times, "You are the only woman I ever loved, still love even more and ever will love. I could never bring myself to love anyone else." I then said, "I always promised to love you for all eternity, just as your mother did for 39 years. She loved only your father and would have no other man in her life and now she is joined with him in Heaven." I finished by saying that I'll most likely die first as I'm 100% disabled and the one with health issues. I also told that if I went first, I wouldn't want another man to have her, I'm adamant about that and have always been jealous of any man trying to get with her in the past and I've scared off enough clowns that tried. Unfortunately, the reality that she has been taken from me is here. I never prepared for this, but know that in my loneliness and sadness, I cannot ever want anyone else but my wife. Prior to our dating I never wanted a woman so badly and God answered my prayers when she gave me her heart and she readily accepted mine. Like yourself, I consider myself still married to her beyond death and to be with another would feel like I'm cheating on her and the moment she became my own love, I never even looked at another woman. My church Deacon explained to me that as God joined us a one in marriage on Earth, we will still be continued to be joined as one  in Heaven, but in Heaven, the institution of marriage is no longer necessary. Although God does allow those who are widowed to remarry, it's an allowance, not a Commandment, an allowance I choose not to take. I don't know how it works in Heaven if one has been married to multiple spouses because of being widowed, but I know God has a perfect plan for everything. He gave me in my precious wife, the most perfect one for me, the one I not only loved beyond description in words alone, but with whom I was most comfortable and had the most fun with. And since God made only one like her, I was blessed beyond my greatest hopes and dreams to have been her only man she ever loved and was married to. God gave me His best in her and that's  why she's the only one I will ever or could ever love and she will the only woman I'll ever be married to. In addition, I wouldn't want anyone else to come in try and erase all memories of the one and only love in my life, family or home. Rather than helping my existence, I feel it would complicate it and I would always compare another woman to my wife. I couldn't give my true loving heart to another as well. The things around our home that remind me of her give me comfort and I feel her presence all around me. Yes, sometimes it makes me cry, but mostly it reminds me of the beautiful times we had together and that and most importantly, our family we created with our love will sustain me the rest of my days.

No Elo, you're not selfish and not alone , like me you have an exceptional love for your spouse as I do for mine and who cares if we're a minority? You must follow your heart. Remember, we don't have to impress others, just our spouses and our own hearts. Someone I know remarried at a younger age than I am and that surprised everyone, considering how close she was to her first husband who died, but that's her following her heart and needs, but that doesn't mean it works for me or everyone else. Stay true to your convictions. If I know my true love, and I do, deep down inside, she really would hope I would honor what I promised her (my wife also had a jealous streak if an attractive woman moved on me). She genuinely wouldn't want to see me with anyone else if it actually came to that. So, I  pray you don't have to experience my situation or if so, not for a long time. I thought my love and had at least 15-20 years more, but I thank God I had her for the time I did and had her for best years of her short life. I am the most blessed man I know. I hope my testimony helps.

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Meeshsteedmankerr

Hello :-)

my name is Michelle. I’m 36 lost my fiancé 9 weeks before our wedding in 2017. I’m so glad I found this site and it’s so nice to hear your opinions on this topic. 
as there’s no right or wrong way on how you go forward in life, I however won’t ever be with anyone else. We were together for 10 years and to me it felt like a lifetime so bless everyone who have been married for years you are so lucky to have had so much time.

For me going forward looking at another person makes me feel sick. I love my partner more than words and I don’t think death separates us. We never stopped loving each other. I Don’t actually believe we die, I believe when we pass that we just shed our physical bodies and our soul is who we are. 
I couldn’t love someone how I love my partner.To me It would be making someone second best and I truly believe everyone deserves the best and I couldn’t do that to anyone. 
Im happy with our good families around me, I have our great friends, my dogs and I have an angel. I feel complete. 
I know everyone has their own opinions on this and rightly so but that’s mine and I’m really proud of that decision. 
sending love to everyone . X

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Haunted_Jasmine

Elo, I'm in your boat too. Thank you so much for creating this thread, reading it has helped me so much. Know that you aren't alone, I feel the same way you do. I had a similar experience to Love sucks's post. My partner and I were very close to another couple, and one of them died very suddenly, and very young. Though this happened a few years ago, it left a scar on my heart. It made me horribly aware that he can be taken from me at any time, and it's always at the back of my mind. Just recently, I told him how I felt. That it isn't death that I fear, but the end of our love. I said that I know with 100% certainty that I will wait for him til the day I die, and could love no other. I said how scared I am that he'll remarry, and then who would he be with in heaven? He joked and said "maybe I could have 2 wives". That flippancy killed me. He saw in the aftermath how disturbed I was, and asked what I was thinking. I said that it's really hard to imagine him with anyone else. So he clarified, saying that as long as we're both still alive, he'll never be with anyone else. He said he can't make any promises, but that if something happened to me he wouldn't actively look for someone, but we can't be sure what will happen. 

But I'M sure. I dropped it after that, fearing to cause a fight over something imaginary, or guilt him into saying something he doesn't mean. I know for a fact he'd want me to find someone if something happened to him, but I just don't feel the same way. I've felt guilty about this for years, thinking that my love for him is less pure than his for me, so it's great to know other people are struggling with this too. I thought we had this epic love story, and everyone who knows us says that we have the strongest relationship they've ever seen. But what he said demoted our love, in my mind. What we have together is enough to sustain me, no matter what happens to either one of us. He's given me everything I could ever need, it's impossible that anyone else could give me more, and I wouldn't need it. I'd rather be alone than with anyone else, to me it would sully the memory of our love. It's such a shock to learn that he doesn't feel the same way.

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Hello,

I am so happy to read this and know I’m not the only one who thinks the same. I am a 27 year old, healthy and happily married woman. I love my husband very much and get very jealous over him being around other women. We have a 6 month old baby, I know this sounds crazy but I get awful thoughts about something bad happening to me or my family and the thought of dying and leaving my baby at a young age really hurts me. I can’t bare the thought of it but can’t help thinking it! I think every mother fears death more after becoming a mother but mine seems to be all the time. I suffer from anxiety which doesn’t help either! I hate the thought of my husband moving on and being happy with another woman if I died, I hate the thought of my baby having another mother etc. I know it’s very selfish but I can’t help it. My husband has already told me if anything was to happen to me he wouldn’t remarry but I still can’t help think he will or his family’s will pressure him into it! Does anyone else feel like this ? Is there anything I can do to help me and stop me from thinking like this? Please reply to my comment and let me know. Thank you 

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Love sucks bad

I think what your saying is perfectly reasonable and I agree with you. 
if he really loved me he would hold on to the hope that we would be together in the afterlife ( if there is one) and stay monogamous. Just because people are lonely doesn’t mean they need a spouse , they can get a roommate , friends , stay with family. Some people lose their moms , does that mean they can get another mom? Or replace their mom? No they just live with the fact that they had a mom and she passed away so why can’t it be the same way. It’s not selfish 

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Elo, that there are people out there thinking like this gives me some hope. I’ve started to lose faith in love, god.. feel myself v odd and old fashioned ( remarriage after death of spouse isn’t a new trend though) . I wanted to be married to someone who never thought about another woman and with whom I’d be married in eternity. But looking around in internet, thinking and talking to some I’ve  come to know this idea a silly girl’s fairy tale and there are no men out there who are like this. I had to learn first hand that my dear husband , I still love ( something in me died then though), thinks of other women sexually and though happily married for 23 years and with two children meanwhile, I just can’t wish somebody like this would stay alone in case I die. Sorry to diverge here, but for my husband’s sake we are into sexual practices, which aren’t so much norm and I’m pretty much ok with that and try to enjoy it even so as to keep things not “boring” for all concerned . Around me I see men and also women, who were loving spouses, devastated by partners’ untimely and early death remarry or enter into new relationships sooner or later which in a way breaks my heart.

Anyway if I were the one to be left alone I still wouldn’t remarry, also because I’ve lost faith, that there are so eternally monogamous people/ men out there. The write of Don Schultz makes me hope some v few women might have been so lucky or still are, but I’d never want to taint memories of such a loving partnership trying to involve with such a person even after death of spouse. Too bad I didn’t meet a guy like this first hand, as I was young and in search for a partner.

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The bottom line I feel is that everyone who thinks like the author of this post is talking about the future... Where as the future is not the now... Not present and hence non-existing... You girls would be happy to know that there are stars out there that are thousands of times greater than our Sun and wait for it... What has stars got to do with monogamous relationships, well if you are lucky, some giant rock that is accelerated by the gravitational pull of these giant stars must be sling shot to the speed of light and are coming towards us and probably will kill us all and we will all die happily in the arms of our lover... Isn't that promising... As I said, this post is focusing on the future... something not real. I am.indian, and we belive that a marriage is for 7 life times, so I am not worried as much, but my wife is... To which I reply, may be it's our last life together, let's make the best of it... And you can imagine the fireworks that night in bed.

How does it even matter, the future I mean... It's all purely speculative... Why not just be in this moment, just right now, and let the years come and fatten us up with wisdom. 

 

I would like to share a story that I once heard. Once upon a time, the moon created the sea, so that it would be able to see itself, then it got tired and thought of creating small pots in which it would be able to see multiple images of itself; we are part of that clay pot, dust to dust, and the water is our soul. Once we die, the pot breaks, but we all end up in the source of the water, the sea, the beauty is not of the pot, but is due to the shining moon, similarly, our partner is not beautiful but due to the soul inside him/ her is the very reason we like the shine. But it's the same shine inside us essentially... 

I don't want to step on religious lines, I don't have time to, you believe what you wish, but it was a nice story so I thought I'd share...  See within you, this love, that yearns even ahead of time... Does it not mean that it is looking for an eternal love,  the spiritual essence that you are... See what it needs, hear it carefully, it wants a never ending flow of love from a source that simply is... Will be... It cannot be just a coincidence that you are all like this... But maybe you are so close to the truth that you focus beyond this body, beyond this realm... But as is said by a great writer, what the ink writes on such a minimum area of, the paper, yet the paper holding the ink has the greatest area yet completely ignored. Similarly what this body is made of, the years of experiences it must have had; the space that holds these celestial abodes, imagine the creator of all this space... How vast and how infinite is it's teritory, that we cannot even contemplate, yet we have the tools to know it, love, logic, gratitude, effort(karma); whichever tool that we may use, we will reach it... That's for sure, for it was all designed that way, that we all yearn for home some day.

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Susan moyra

It is not relevant to comment on this forum  if you have not actually lost your loved one and everybody deals with grief in different ways, it doesn't mean that they do not love their deceased partner if they choose not to be alone for the rest of their life.

 

Not everybody has a great circle of friends and support network and are vulnerable out in the world alone. Also the way you respond to grief and whether to have another partner after your loved one dies depends a lot on your culture/religious beliefs as well. I am a Christian and in the Bible Jesus says that marraige does not exist in heaven. In some cultures you are also ritually separated from your loved one in order to let their soul continue it's journey without the attachments that it had on earth which could hinder the soul in it's journey.

 

My grief and way of dealing with the loss of my boyfriend who I deeply loved was complicated by the combination of these things in my culture and his culture, and also by being lonely and not actually being in the mood to hang out with friends or even talk to people. When the opportunity arised to have a new partner I went for it although I wasn't looking for someone, it seemed like fate and that there was little or no chance of finding a better person for me given my situation and particular needs and interests. I reckoned if I didn't take the chance now to be with someone who really wanted to stick with me and be there for me I would regret it later if am 10 years later in my 40s and have no children and am lonely and the idea of getting older and then going out looking for a new partner and "dating" and having run ins with unpleasant guys just looking for something casual or a one night stand or money was just dreadful.

 

I didn't have much to offer my friends and felt guilty going and having fun with them and embracing the "freedom" of being single. But being alone all the time is hard.

 

A partner seemed like a better option, when a decent guy happened to come my way and kept pursuing me until I gave in.  He will never replace the love I lost because he is a completely different person. Every relationship we have in life is unique. Having a new man in my life is a blessing but it does not stop me from missing the loved one who died. He helps me to keep grounded, focused on my faith and I can help him at home and work on projects with them that seemed much like a continuation of what I began with my deceased loved one and I continue to Honor him and think of him in everything that I do. 

I do however often wonder if I have made a mistake by entering a new relationship, I feel guilty sometimes and I wonder if I allowed religious and cultural beliefs surrounding me, and feeling isolated and insecure to change the way I may have otherwise dealt with this loss. In any case I made the decision I made at the time and there is no sense in going back on it. I have a good companion now and I still love the boyfriend who I lost very much and my new boyfriend accepts this. 

If you are here to judge others ways of dealing with grief, instead of being supportive and you are not even dealing with grief yourself, I would like to ask you to leave actual grievers alone. 

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I was not quite sure how to respond to the comments on grief.  After reading the last two responses I felt relief because the two writers seem to express how I felt, judged for feelings that I may have had or have.  I am quoting the last since it is so appropriate.  

"If you are here to judge others ways of dealing with grief, instead of being supportive and you are not even dealing with grief yourself, I would like to ask you to leave actual grievers alone. "

Thank you for your thoughts and clarifications.  I understand how we all move through life in our own way and are not to be judged.  We are here to support each other. Karma 

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Francis Kinsella

I can't see me ever loving another woman as much as I loved or love my wife who has passed. You can't change almost 40 years of marriage and loving someone who was your first and only love.

 

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I agree with this. I am Male Muslim and not married yet. I will tell my wife (when i have one) that I wish that she doesn't marry another man after I die (if i want to be with her in paradise) and I will tell her that if she decides to, that I most likely will not choose her as my wife in heaven in case I have higher Status than her (the one with higher status in the eyes of god decides who will be his or her spouse in heaven in islam), because I believe that she doesn't belong to me anymore if she marries another man, but she now belongs to that man. When I marry a virgin woman, then I am not signing up for a woman who has been with another man, exactly like I am not signing up in heaven to be with my wife which has been with another man. I won't despise my wife if she marries another man after my death, because maybe she didn't love me or it wasn't worth the wait for her, and for me it is like her divorcing herself from me. Divorce isnt a despicable thing most of the time, but just like she will not belong to me if she divorces me while I am still alive, it will also be the case that she doesnt belong to me if she divorces me while I am dead. I would feel the same way like a woman I love divorces me.

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While this is an older thread, I just want to weigh in to support the original poster snd her position. As I am 67 and my wife is 50, married for 20 years,  and the thought of me passing first has been frequent. On the surface it does feel selfish to want your spouse to not find love again, but I’m not sure it is and I feel as Elo does—our love isn’t just in the present but eternal and if so, how could I love another when I remain in love? If, on the other hand, people think love and the emotional relationship attachment ceases at death then I could see it otherwise but I don’t see it that way. My wife will be alive for me in my heart and mind forever whether she’s in physical form or not. Reattaching to another is some form of replacement no matter what. I would hope my wife would feel the same but I don’t know that as we haven’t had that conversation and it scares me to maybe learn she feels otherwise. I wonder  if this is a topic couples should discuss before getting married as it changes pretty fundamentally how you view your marriage and the significance and scope  of the love you have. Anyway, there are definitely some guys out there who feel the same way. 

 

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Many times people don't know until they're there in that position so it may not help to talk about it before you're married.  Most people getting married are star struck and not thinking something could happen to them on down the line.   

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BonnieGirl

I realize this post is pretty old but I’m hoping the original poster is still active. I lost my soulmate 3 months ago. I have been researching ever since it happened how people can remarry. I was sealed to my husband which means we are married for eternity. It’s not death do us part. Except the majority of others in my church also remarry. 
 

It breaks my heart. The fact that I’m the minority in my thinking makes me think maybe I’m all wrong in feeling this way. My husband once told me he didn’t want me to remarry. I was fine with that. I never thought I would be dealing with this in my 40’s and not my 80’s. 
 

I wish I could hear more responses like this one. Every book on grief eventually gets to moving on and finding a new love. It’s such a painful and confusing place to be in. I don’t think it’s wrong for people to remarry. I just wonder why more people don’t feel the way this poster does. 

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Welcome!  I am so sorry for your loss!  I hope you will read/post in the losss of spouse section as well, as there are others who will want to welcome you as you try to make your way through this.

The person who started this thread has not posted since, I am sorry to say.
I was 52 when my husband died and he had turned 51 just  five days earlier, before he died on Father's Day.  You are early on in this at three months.  I am now 71 and do not date or plan to remarry.  It's not that I have anything against it, just being realistic for me.

Grief Process

This is not a one-size-fits-all, what strikes us one day will be different a few months/years from now, so please save/print this for reference!

I want to share an article I wrote of the things I've found helpful over the years, in the hopes something will be of help to you either now or on down the road.

TIPS TO MAKE YOUR WAY THROUGH GRIEF

There's no way to sum up how to go on in a simple easy answer, but I encourage you to read the other threads here, little by little you will learn how to make your way through this.  I do want to give you some pointers though, of some things I've learned on my journey.

  • Take one day at a time.  The Bible says each day has enough trouble of its own, I've found that to be true, so don't bite off more than you can chew.  It can be challenging enough just to tackle today.  I tell myself, I only have to get through today.  Then I get up tomorrow and do it all over again.  To think about the "rest of my life" invites anxiety.
  • Don't be afraid, grief may not end but it evolves.  The intensity lessens eventually.
  • Visit your doctor.  Tell them about your loss, any troubles sleeping, suicidal thoughts, anxiety attacks.  They need to know these things in order to help you through it...this is all part of grief.
  • Suicidal thoughts are common in early grief.  If they're reoccurring, call a suicide hotline.  I felt that way early on, but then realized it wasn't that I wanted to die so much as I didn't want to go through what I'd have to face if I lived.  Back to taking a day at a time.  Suicide Hotline - Call 1-800-273-8255 or www.crisis textline.org or US and Canada: text 741741 UK: text 85258 | Ireland: text 50808
  • Give yourself permission to smile.  It is not our grief that binds us to them, but our love, and that continues still.
  • Try not to isolate too much.  
  • There's a balance to reach between taking time to process our grief, and avoiding it...it's good to find that balance for yourself.  We can't keep so busy as to avoid our grief, it has a way of haunting us, finding us, and demanding we pay attention to it!  Some people set aside time every day to grieve.  I didn't have to, it searched and found me!
  • Self-care is extremely important, more so than ever.  That person that would have cared for you is gone, now you're it...learn to be your own best friend, your own advocate, practice self-care.  You'll need it more than ever.
  • Recognize that your doctor isn't trained in grief, find a professional grief counselor that is.  We need help finding ourselves through this maze of grief, knowing where to start, etc.  They have not only the knowledge, but the resources.
  • In time, consider a grief support group.  If your friends have not been through it themselves, they may not understand what you're going through, it helps to find someone somewhere who DOES "get it". 
  • Be patient, give yourself time.  There's no hurry or timetable about cleaning out belongings, etc.  They can wait, you can take a year, ten years, or never deal with it.  It's okay, it's what YOU are comfortable with that matters.  
  • Know that what we are comfortable with may change from time to time.  That first couple of years I put his pictures up, took them down, up, down, depending on whether it made me feel better or worse.  Finally, they were up to stay.
  • Consider a pet.  Not everyone is a pet fan, but I've found that my dog helps immensely.  It's someone to love, someone to come home to, someone happy to see me, someone that gives me a purpose...I have to come home and feed him.  Besides, they're known to relieve stress.  Well maybe not in the puppy stage when they're chewing up everything, but there's older ones to adopt if you don't relish that stage.
  • Make yourself get out now and then.  You may not feel interest in anything, things that interested you before seem to feel flat now.  That's normal.  Push yourself out of your comfort zone just a wee bit now and then.  Eating out alone, going to a movie alone or church alone, all of these things are hard to do at first.  You may feel you flunked at it, cried throughout, that's okay, you did it, you tried, and eventually you get a little better at it.  If I waited until I had someone to do things with I'd be stuck at home a lot.
  • Keep coming here.  We've been through it and we're all going through this together.
  • Look for joy in every day.  It will be hard to find at first, but in practicing this, it will change your focus so you can embrace what IS rather than merely focusing on what ISN'T.  It teaches you to live in the present and appreciate fully.  You have lost your big joy in life, and all other small joys may seem insignificant in comparison, but rather than compare what used to be to what is, learn the ability to appreciate each and every small thing that comes your way...a rainbow, a phone call from a friend, unexpected money, a stranger smiling at you, whatever the small joy, embrace it.  It's an art that takes practice and is life changing if you continue it.
  • Eventually consider volunteering.  It helps us when we're outward focused, it's a win/win.

(((hugs)))  Praying for you today.

 

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