I have to say that there is definitely true love after loss … in good time. I do have relatives and friends who have found other soul mates after losing a spouse, so I know that it’s possible. I would exhort all my readers, however, to go slow and cautiously. I have a story to share, and I’m sure that I’m not the only one who has passed through this type of experience. I now know that it was a great learning tool for me.

About six months after Malinda died, I received a call from an acquaintance that I hadn’t seen since junior high school. She knew both Malinda and I years and years ago, and she said she called to express her condolences. She explained that she, too, had experienced the pain of grief, and that she understood loss. We agreed to have lunch. When I met her at the restaurant, I was taken back at how beautiful she had turned out to be. We talked for hours and it wasn’t long before we met again. Somehow in my lonely mind I decided that this girl must have been sent by Malinda to end my painful loneliness. I will save the details for the book, but suffice it to say that I was gravely misled, and she took me on an emotional roller coaster ride that left me with a broken and confused heart. I realized that she knew of my vulnerability and did all she could to take advantage of that. It was the day that she asked to look in my safe deposit box at the bank that I started to catch on to what she was doing. The big irony in all of this is that when I told her we needed to end our relationship, she screamed at me and told me that I was not “worthy” of her anyway, as she was a daughter of God and I did not qualify to have her.

Malinda had not sent her. As a matter of fact, it was Malinda guiding me from her spirit home (in a miraculous way) that kept me from making a very big mistake.

My point of this post is to let the readers know that while we crave company and affection after we lose our love, we must proceed with caution. Everything that glitters is not necessarily gold!

NOTE: I have been blessed to find someone to love, and who loves me back. It took a great deal of searching, and some tough learning experiences, but I learned that I am capable of loving again … and so are you.