When One of Your Best Friends Becomes a Widow Too

Some conversations you plan for a long time because you know they're going to matter. This is one of them.

Kelly sits down with one of her closest and dearest friends, Melissa Mickelson, for a raw, honest, and deeply moving conversation about widowhood. Kelly lost her husband Bob four and a half years ago. Melissa lost her husband Dean nine months ago. And as Melissa puts it, she watched Kelly go through it first and had no idea she'd one day be living the same unimaginable reality.

Together they talk through what it actually feels like to navigate grief from the inside, including the "10 seconds at a time" advice Kelly gave Melissa on that very first night that has stuck with her ever since. They get into what helps and what doesn't when someone you love is grieving (hint: you don't need to fix it, you just need to witness it), why you should always bring up the person who died, how to text a grieving friend without making it worse, what it's like to go back to work when your whole world has changed, how grief literally rewires your brain, and why both of them refuse to let this break them.

Melissa also shares how her TikTok account has become a space for sharing grief insights, and the beautiful mantra from her wedding vows that now guides her every single day: choose your heart.

This one is for anyone who has loved and lost, and for anyone who wants to show up better for someone who has.

This episode is sponsored by Lifeway Foods. For more info go to lifewaykefir.com. Thank you Lifeway for being such an incredible partner!

Follow Kelly on Instagram @KellyRizzo

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