The Friends Who Came and the Friends Who Didn't
Joanna lists who turned up in the months after her husband's death and who disappeared, without bitterness. A listener in Cebu, widowed at 41, compares her own list.
We Lost Our Son and Stayed Married
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Show notes
This episode
Ramon and Cielo's son Gabriel died in 2019. Ramon went back to work in two weeks; Cielo did not leave the house for three months. Everyone told them this is where marriages break. Tonight they tell what happened instead, carefully, with pauses.
- Grieving differently: his busyness, her stillness, and the year they could not stand each other's way
- The night Cielo said she wanted to leave, and what Ramon answered
- Gabriel's room, and the argument about it that finally helped
- Family and church: who helped, who made it worse
- What they would tell a couple in month one
Next time: dating again as a widow, and the guilt that comes with the first dinner.
Transcript
Hello, this is Who Sits With You Now, and I am Joanna. Before we start, I want to say that today's conversation is about the loss of a child, so please take care of yourself. Ramon and Cielo lost their son Gabriel in 2019. He was nine. In the months after, Ramon went back to his office in two weeks and worked late every night. Cielo did not leave the house for three months. Everyone around them, family, friends, their priest, quietly expected the marriage to end, because that is what people say happens. It did not end. It nearly did. Tonight they tell me, slowly and with a lot of pauses, how two people can grieve the same child in completely different ways and still find their way back to the same table. You are listening on Witspeak Podcasts.
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