• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • BLOG
  • WRESTLING WITH GOD BOOK
  • CONTACT

Barbara Falconer Newhall

Veteran journalist Barbara Falconer Newhall riffs on life as she knows it.

  • A CASE OF THE HUMAN CONDITION
  • MY EVER-CHANGING FAMILY
  • WRITING & READING
  • MY ROCKY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
  • WIDOWED
  • FUNNY BUTTON

Widowed: We Were Two People — And a Marriage

June 29, 2024 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 4 Comments

widowed we were two people and a marriage debate-promo-2024
Widowed: We were two people and a marriage. Jon and I were of like minds in many ways; we would not have missed watching the Biden-Trump debate together on Thursday. Photo by Barbara Newhall

A presidential debate. Televised. Coming up at 6:00 our time. Jon would have arranged his day — and our dinner hour — around it.

And so would I.

Jon and I were of one mind when it came to world events. Miss a consequential televised debate? Not a chance. We were newsies, after all, veterans of decades in the news business.

My writer friend, whose husband died a few months before mine, laughed when I told her my plans for the evening. She and her husband wouldn’t dream of sitting down to watch Joe Biden and Donald Trump duke it out on TV. They had better things to do.

“I guess we both picked the right guy,” I said.

“Yes. We got lucky.”

Jon and I had a meeting of the minds. So did my friend and her husband.

Widowed: Two People and a Marriage

But how much of that like-mindedness was present on the day we met our future spouses? And how much of it was shaped by year after year of eating, sleeping, watching the news (or not watching the news), and making the big decisions together?

Back in 1971, when Jon and I met, there was a Jon Newhall and there was a Barbara Falconer. By the time Jon died fifty years later, a third entity taken shape, something we had created over the years. Us.

More about love and marriage at, “A Marriage Proposal — The Man Said Yes.”  Also at, “Time to Crack Open That Hope Chest and Live a Little.”

widowed we were two people and a marriage pregnant-woman-and-husband
We agreed on politics. We also agreed on whether or not to have babies. Barbara Newhall photo

Filed Under: On Writing & Reading, Widowed

Share This with a Friend

Share

If you enjoyed this, get my Latest Riffs on Life!

We respect your privacy and do not share your email with anyone. [convertkit form=1389962]

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kathleen Baer says

    July 7, 2024 at 10:27 am

    We miss the individual and we miss that third entity: it is a lot of missing that goes on when one has been fortunate in having a long and loving marriage.

    Reply
    • Barbara Falconer Newhall says

      July 8, 2024 at 11:06 am

      “A lot of missing going on” . . . so true!

      Reply
  2. Katherine and Will Philipp says

    June 30, 2024 at 3:58 pm

    Loved this!

    Reply
    • Barbara Falconer Newhall says

      July 1, 2024 at 10:28 am

      Sounds like you know what I’m talking about!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

GET MY Riffs on Life BY EMAIL

True stories often told through a humorous lens–because you just can't make them up!

We respect your privacy and do not share your email with anyone.

 

LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

When a Grown Daughter Doesn’t Call — Or, How to Overmother a Twenty-Something

Christina Newhall with cell phone. Photo by BF Newhall

Christina hadn’t called. We had dropped her at the airport hours ago. The flight to Burbank takes only seventy minutes. She should be home by now. But Jon and I still hadn’t gotten the, “I’m home. The plane didn’t crash. My roommate remembered to pick me up, and we didn’t get mugged in the garage,” phone call. Read more.

MORE "ON THE FUNNY SIDE"

CATEGORIES

  • A Case of the Human Condition
  • My Ever-Changing Family
  • On Writing & Reading
  • My Rocky Spiritual Journey

 
Need some levity? Push my Funny Button!

TO MY READERS

Please feel free to share links to my posts with one and all and to quote briefly from them in your own writing, remembering, of course, to attribute the quote to me and to provide a link back to this site.

My Oakland Tribune columns, btw, are reprinted by permission of the Trib. With the exception of review copies of books, I do not accept ads or freebies of any kind. Click on the "Contact" button if you have questions. Enjoy!

 

DON’T MISS!

scary-mask

Halloween — A Day for the Dead

pretty-new-clothes

My Pretty New Clothes — Shall I Just Wear Them Around the House? Sheltering at Home Week 10

11th Annual Tower Chapel Tulip Exhibition, Mouintain View Cemetery, Oakland, CA "F9UND OBJECT IN A BED OF TULIPS," STAFFORD BUCKLEY GARDEN RESTORATION, OAKLAND

What a Tulip Can Do — If You Ask It

father-and-newborn-son

Father’s Day vs. Mother’s Day — And Today’s Liberated Dads

MORE DON'T MISS!

© 2009–2025 Barbara Falconer Newhall All rights reserved. · Log in