Hi. Hi. Hi, how are you there? Hi. Hey, Nora.

I'm Nora McInerney, and this is thanks for asking, a call-in show about what matters to you.

I'm Nora Mcnerney, and this is, thanks for asking, a call in show about what matters to you.

I got a question.

You know, I get a lot of questions from widows, and I got this email. It says,

I lost my partner of eight years over 13 months ago, and in the darkest times of my life,

I made a new friend who has been a great support for me. Although recently, I've developed some pretty deep feelings for this man, and he has for me. But I am struggling with navigating a potential

new relationship while also balancing my grief and my love for my dead partner. I was wondering

if you can share some words on your experience with your partner, Matthew, after the loss of

Aaron, where your feelings clear and easy to navigate, did you take things very slow with Matthew,

how did you tell the people in your life you were with someone? I worry if my doubts and fears mean I'm not ready for this next step. Or maybe it's to be

expected and a common experience for us widows. Any insight would be so greatly appreciated.

Now, when can a widow date again is something that I can and will answer for my own experience as a remarried

widow, but first I want to write a prescription. I'm saying this as a person who is not a

therapist, not a doctor, not an expert really of any kind, but I need this widow to watch

some more reality TV. One of my favorite tools for understanding grief is reality TV, specifically real housewives,

specifically, in this case, Real Housewives of New York City season seven.

That is my prescription for widows and people trying to understand widows.

This season is so special because two of the six

cast members are widows, and we get to watch how they handle dating after loss. We get to watch

how grief shows up in their lives in different ways. We get to watch how important it is to have a

friend who gets it. And I think if you can see yourself and parts of your experience on TV, even through sort of like the fun house mirror of reality TV, it can reflect something back to you.

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