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By Rilwan Abdullahi

4 Short Quotes About Finding Love After a Spouse’s Death

When two people marry, they make a series of solemn commitments to each other. These vows may differ from one person to the next, but at most weddings, the couple promises to be together “’til death do us part.”

Despite the fact that this is a traditional promise, most of us do not believe that death will ever separate us from our spouse. Death, on the other hand, can divide people without warning. And the spouse who is left behind might even fall in love again in the future. These quotations shed light on what can be a difficult situation at times.

Quotes About Falling in Love After the Death of a Spouse

When you read books for surviving spouses about sorrow, you’ll notice that they frequently mention falling in love again. This can elicit a wide range of emotions. Even exploring another relationship might make a widow or widower feel guilty. Some people feel as if they’re betraying a deceased spouse, while others suffer from survivor’s guilt. These quotations dive into the complexities of human emotions.

1. “Your heart is a giant cathedral. Let it open. Let it love. Do not let your gorgeous loyalty to the deceased stop you from experiencing the marvels and terrors of your short, mortal, precious life. It’s OK to live, and to love.” —Elizabeth Gilbert

Gilbert rose to prominence after writing a deeply intimate book about a life-changing love affair. Readers assumed she married the man she wrote about, and they would live happily ever after. Gilbert, however, found out nine years into her marriage that her longtime best friend Rayya Elias had terminal cancer. She also realized she had been in love with Elias for years and decided to divorce her husband before committing to him.

Gilbert announced that she had started a new relationship fourteen months after Elias died. This remark perfectly encapsulates her open-hearted (and frequently stormy) approach to love.

2. “We didn’t even realize we were falling in love. Meredith had HAD it with dating, and I’d resigned myself to live in the grey deadness of losing Michelle. But to encounter a mind like Meredith’s, and to get to talk with her at the end of every day, just someone to talk to in the dark, quickly became indispensable.” —Patton Oswalt

Oswalt is a stand-up comedian, writer, and actor known for his biting wit. However, his real sadness following the murder of his wife Michelle McNamara was palpable. When he remarried actress Meredith Salenger a little over a year after McNamara’s death, some fans were suspicious. However, both Salenger and Oswalt have continued to pay tribute to McNamara’s reputation as a pioneering true-crime journalist.

3. “Maybe I was afraid of the judgment of others, but mostly I think I feared my own judgment: that loving another person would somehow diminish what I had with my dead husband Aaron. That if I was happy, I must not be sad anymore. That I didn’t actually deserve to be happy again.” —Nora McInerny

McInerny started dating art director Aaron Purmort in 2010. He was diagnosed with stage IV glioblastoma less than a year into their relationship, a diagnosis that is nearly usually deadly. They decided not to waste the time they had left and married and began trying to start a family right away. Purmort died in 2014, leaving behind a young son and his wife.

McInerny fell in love with a divorced father of two a year and a half after her husband died. In 2016, they merged their families and had a child together. McInerny rose to prominence as a result of her whirlwind first marriage, which she chronicled in blog postings and eventually books. She explores the challenge of being in love with two guys at the same time while only one is still alive in her 2019 memoir No Happy Endings.

4. “And then the day came/when the risk/to remain tight/in a bud/was more painful/than the risk/it took to Blossom.” —Anais Nin

In its totality, this quotation is a poetry about grief. It exemplifies the strength of persevering in the face of adversity.

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