Author Kristin Meekhof Reflects on Losing Her Dad at Age 5

The Widowed Parent Podcast

I had such a great discussion with Kristin Meekhof for this episode. Kristin is an author, and I invited her on the show because she is both widowed herself and is someone who lost a parent at a young age. Plus, this week we have a giveaway, where one lucky winner will get signed copies of both Kristin’s book, A Widow’s Guide to Healing, and my own book, Future Widow. If you’re listening around the time this episode is released, you can enter now through June 11, 2022, at jennylisk.com/giveaway.

Some topics Kristin and I discuss include:

• Being born in Korea and adopted by an American family as an infant;
• Growing up with her dad having cancer;
• Her dad dying when she was almost 5 years old;
• That first time her class was making Father’s Day cards;
• Her mom getting remarried when she was seven, and being adopted by her step-dad;
• Having her last name change to her step-dad’s name, which was her third last name as a young child;
• How disorienting and damaging it was for her as a child that her mother refused to talk her father’s death;
• Getting to know her father through her uncle and grandmother;
• Being afraid as a child that her mother would die, too;
• Her own husband dying of cancer when she was 33, and how isolating this experience was;
• Why she decided to interview over 100 widowed people and write a book for newly widowed people; and
• Why sharing our stories is so important to our healing.

I hope you enjoy my discussion with Kristin Meekhof.

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