The Young and the Widowed is a support group for young widows and widowers from all walks of life. Our focus is on building new friendships with other widows/widowers in a relaxed environment. We have all lost our partners, and often feel left out of the activities we used to enjoy. Among our married friends we feel like the fifth wheel, but we are also not quite ready to act single either. Our group strives to support members through their grieving process, while also having fun together. Our meetings might include an Astros or Texans game, a concert, or just a fun night out. We provide the opportunity to interact with others who have lost a spouse, a chance to take a break from the grief, and to make new friends who have been there. We encourage each other, listen when a member needs to talk, and go out and have fun together. The Young and the Widowed is a place where you can let it all out and know you will be understood. Instead of another look of sympathy or a cliched response, you might hear an excited voice respond, “me too!” You are not alone. There are a lot of us out there, and we are all looking for like minded friends too. None of us chose this path for our lives, but now that we are here we can support each other as we grieve and as we move forward. Welcome to our site. Feel free to contact us with any questions, concerns, but especially if you need support or just want to talk. Check out our upcoming events to find one that interests you.
The Young & the Widowed – Houston
A support group for young widows and widowers in the greater Houston area
I’m not sure what to say. My friend sent me this link so I decided to look at it. I am a widow of 2.5 years and counting. Lost my husband Jan 17, 2012 in a hunting accident. When it happened our daughter had just turned 2 months and 3 days. I found out through a phone call, all alone in my house alone with our child. Sometimes I don’t know how to deal with it and other times I think I have it all together. I keep busy with my daughters socail life, birthdays and gymnastics, my job and trying to stay in shape. It’s hard but I think I am doing well.
Hi Whitney, thanks for checking out our site. I can relate so much to your response. I found out from the highway patrol over six hours after my husband had died (after I had already called them and they told me that it wasn’t him, but asked for my address). My daughter is probably close to yours in age now, she will be two in September, and my son is 4. It sounds like you are doing an amazing job taking care of her
. I haven’t made it to the first year mark yet, and am piecing things together as I go along. One thing I have felt a need for since the beginning is to have people who are “like me” to talk to because it seems like a lot of (or most) normal people just can’t understand where I’m coming from. We have a informal get together scheduled for this month if you’re interested. You would make four, our group is still pretty new, but we are getting the ball rolling pretty quickly and we are excited about having a group of like minds to hang out with when we all need a break. Any questions shoot us an email on the contact page 
or even if you just need someone to “listen” or read haha. Look forward to hearing from you. Also, we have a facebook group. You can add me (Wendy Hill) or look for The Young and the Widowed on facebook and we will add you in. Glad you posted!
Hey Whitney, welcome to our group – Wendy said it best in her post but I wanted to say “Hi” and “Welcome” again and hope that you consider joining us in our journey together. Our paths to this point were not exactly the same but the end result is. And we understand; I’m 10 months in and just “celebrated” my 2 year wedding anniversary by myself. It’s a tough path and the road is inconsistent between good and bad days but that’s what we are here for – to listen at the very least with an ear that truly understands. Please feel free to reach out to either one of us (wendy hill or jacob noack) on Facebook and join our group there if interested as well. Hope to see you back soon!
I tried looking for each of you on facebook but apparently there are a lot of people with the same name as both of you so I was not able to determine who you were exactly. I have tried to be involved with other groups but they just seem to be older people that have “lived” the majority of their life with their spouse. I am looking for some people that are closer to the situation that I am in. It would be nice. I have tried therapy but it just was not right for me. I have tried to go to church, but I just do not feel right doing that. I am still mad about what happened. People say that they can forgive and maybe not forget, but I really have not gotten to that point yet, where I am ready to forgive. I have not talked to the person that shot my husband. They also had a child just a couple of months older than my daughter and it just makes me mad that he gets to see his son grow up where my husband does not get to do that. As I right this, I am starting to think I am not okay with where I am, but I am able to cover it up really well to where people around me think I have been able to move forward. Maybe I have just surpressed so much, I don’t know what I feel. It’s so much easier that way, to not even think about it. Sorry for rambling, but I have not had anyone else to talk to about this. It feels nice because I think that you know where I am coming from. I am not going to be able to make the meet up later this month because I think I have something already planned, but if that changes, I will try to come. Keep me posted on other events that you may have.
Whitney, I’m the Jacob Noack with the sunglasses and red shirt looking over part of my bike’s yellow handlebars. I didn’t think there were many more of me out there.
I am pretty sure that we can both agree with you on the anger thing; it seems to come with the territory I think. I can imagine that yours is especially difficult, given the circumstances. We will definitely keep you in the loop for upcoming events, hope to at least connect on facebook at some point soon.
Any meetings soon?
Hi Fred, I tried to reply to you earlier but was doing so from my phone and don’t see my reply so…I’m trying again (sorry if it’s a repeat). We are meeting Saturday, September 29th at Baker St Pub in the Willowbrook/1960 area. Starts at 4. Hope you can make it. If not we have more events coming up, and will have some new stuff posted early next week. We also have a facebook group, same name (The Young and the Widowed Houston), you can add me (Wendy J Hill) or Jacob Noack and we will add you to the facebook group if you would like. Any questions feel free to email us at tytwhouston@gmail.com. Glad you found us!
Welcome Fred! I see Wendy already responded to your post with all the good details. Friend either her or myself on Facebook and we can add you to the group there, too. I’m the Jacob Noack in the red shirt with the sunglasses if/when you do a search. We have some pretty good ideas for upcoming events floating around and will firm some up within the next few days, to be posted next week, and I really hope you can join us at the happy hour planned on the 29th.
I read your story in the Cancerwise article and was encouraged by a friend of mine at MD Anderson to check out your website. I lost my husband, Taylor, on March 23, 2012. He died from an undetermine type of cancer originating in his sacrum. We spent about 3 months at MD Anderson and went through many ups and downs. His prognosis was never good, but I never actually thought we was going to die. We were supposed to get married April 28, 2012 at St. Anne’s on Westheimer, but canceled it for obvious reasons. All the planning was finished, deposits had been made, my dress was ready to be worn down the isle. We were deeply saddened to cancel our wedding. We had been engaged for 2 years. After a month, the cancer had spread to his hips, lungs and heart. The news kept getting worse. Even though the doctors didn’t think my husband would make it through the weekend, we decided to get married on the Palliative Care floor at MD Anderson in our hospital room on February 13. It was the happiest day of our life. He started feeling better and the chemo seemed to be working. We had 40 wonderful days together as husband and wife before Taylor took his last breath. I have decided to stay in Houston and try and start a new life here. I can’t explain the pain I feel. I can’t explain a lot anymore. I feel very uncomfortable without my husband. I used to be very in control of my life, and now I feel so lost. This month it will be 6 months and it feels like it happened just yesterday. I feel like no one understands what it feels like. I’m happy to know that there are other people out there, in Houston, that have such similar feelings. Thank you for creating this site. You are both extremely brave individuals. I wont be able to make the 9/29 happy hour, but hopefully will be able to meet you both soon. Thank you for sharing your stories…
<3 Donia Crouch Brown
Hi Donia,
. We also have a closed facebook group that we can add you to. We are glad that you found us. We will be posting next months meetings next week sometime. If you need anything or just want to talk you can also email us at tytwhouston@gmail.com.We will miss you at the get together on the 29th, but also look forward to meeting you soon.
I’m so glad you’ve found the site. I can relate to the feeling of not being in control anymore so much! Feel free to add me on facebook (Wendy J Hill, I added the J so I would be easier to find
Donia, I can’t tell you how sorry I am that you went through what you did; reading through your story makes me think back to all the different emotions and hopes and everything that I went through – much like yourself. It’s a roller coaster during the entire time and who knows when it will slow down and let you off of the ride. I am glad that you found us and reached out; our group is still in the beginning phase but unfortunately people like us exist and we’ve had quite a good response so far from those who seek the support of others like we have. Wendy and I are in the process of planning quite a few more events and should have them posted by early next week, hopefully you can join us at one of those since you can’t make the “happy” hour on the 29th. We have a facebook group as well; it’s a closed group, so it doesn’t get abused, but if you want to friend me (Jacob Noack – on facebook, I’m the one with the red shirt and sunglasses on) or Wendy J Hill we can invite you and give you another avenue of keeping up with our group and it’s members and also may help to keep you in the loop as far as the upcoming events, etc. We have a good, diverse group started and I hope you get a chance to join us soon!
Hi Donia!
Such a small small world! I had heard of your journey through a mutual friend I believe, Claire Carter de Roode, and then checked in on this site today and saw your name! wow! I should come more often, but I correspond a lot through our closed group on Facebook. But glad that I checked on this today and saw your journey and what a beautiful one! I lost my husband this year 2/12/12 at MDA due to Lung Cancer…I can honestly say, just as you, I have tried therapy…did not work, and I visited a few groups but they were all older and “weathered” widow groups and married for many years and or have had their loved ones gone for a long time as well. This group has been complete therapy for me! We have laughed, we have cried, we have cursed and definatly “MEEPED” (You’ll get famiiar
Wendy and Jacob’s vision and goal was to ensure that ones our age know they are not alone and whethere it is cancer, or any circumstance that causes us to have our loved ones taken from us, that we have others our age that will support and understand EXACTLY what we are each dealing with though a wide range of circumstances — we hope you decide to join the group — it is a healing process and this group has assisted with that on a HUGE level!
OXOXO LC
It’s funny how you stumble upon things as you are roaming the web. A few nights ago I was searching for young widow stories/sites and came across Jacob’s story and sent him a note via FB (or at least I think I sent it to the right “Jacob Noack”), and then I found this site. It’s funny how that all worked out. Anyways, I am 30 yrs old and lost my husband, Chadd, on March 31, 2012. We were both 29 at the time and did not have any children. We were married 7 years and together for 12 (high school sweethearts). He had a brain AVM/aneurysm on August 11, 2010 and was in a coma for 1 year and seven months until he died unexpectedly in March. It’s like I had the sudden death and long illness all combined into one. I have an amazing support system here. . .wonderful family and friends . . . but I just find myself struggling with “fitting in” with my newfound identity as a widow.
I’m actually from Indiana and I know this is a Houston-based group but it is difficult to find people our age who are in this situation that really understand. I have family in Houston and I end up there a couple of times a year for work. I will actually be in Houston over the next week or so. And, my husband and I lived in Texas for six months after college and loved it as well so it’s always close to my heart. I may not be able to go to your events but I thought it might be nice to just be connected with others who, unfortunately, understand how I feel even though we’ve never met.
My heart goes out to you all,
Sarah
Hi Everyone – I would like to join but I do not hsve a Facebook page. Could you send me info? I can relate and would like to meet up with you guys. Thank you!
Hi Julie, I’d be more than happy to send you an e-mail with the information about our group and what we are about; you can e-mail me at tytwhouston@gmail.com and that will go to myself and Wendy as well. Hope to hear from you soon!
I’ve been debating on whether I should try to join this group or not and I figured what the heck. I lost my husband in August of 2011. I have a son who was born 1 month after his daddy died. I have a very supportive family and friends who have stuck by me even though at times I have been less of a friend and more of a hermit in my house. I do feel like a 5th wheel when I’m asked to go out with everyone as 95% of my friends are married. I was with my late husband pretty much since I was 13 and I’m 36 now so he’s pretty much all I have known which makes this really hard. I have finally accepted that he is gone and not coming back and that I must move forward and live life. I hope being a part of this group will help me and I hope to help others in some way as well. I am still having trouble going out socially but maybe soon that will ease up with the help of those who have been or are still in my same position. I look forward to chatting and getting to know some people who can relate