• A Valentine's Day note and flowers for DC widow blog writer Marjorie Brimley
    Holidays

    Valentines Day

    Valentine’s day is a stupid, made-up holiday. It is!  But I guess so are a lot of quasi-holidays and other silly things we celebrate.  I’m pretty sure Facebook made up National Sibling Day but I love posting pictures of my sister on that day.  So I was never against Valentine’s Day, exactly.  I just didn’t make a big deal out of it. But Shawn knew better.  He knew that if he forgot to recognize his love for me on this day, even though I thought the holiday was stupid, it might hurt my feelings.  So every year, he made sure to get me something nice.  The first year, when we…

  • Marjorie and Shawn Brimley dancing at wedding in Washington DC
    Missing Shawn

    “You look hot, by the way”

    Two days before he died, Shawn was up at night, sick from chemotherapy and the cancer that was racking his body. It was about 2 am, and I stumbled out of bed in just a tank top and underwear, rushing to get him a towel to help him wash his face. He could barely walk, but he had managed to get himself to the bathroom without my help, and I was just standing there, trying to figure out what was the best thing for him. “What can I do for you?” I asked him. “Nothing,” he said. He paused.  Then he turned and looked at me and said, “you look…