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Elaine - author | grief & loss support

@theelaineroth

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Creating a life after loss ✨
Navigating grief, solo parenting, and young widowhood with a side of hope ✨
Learn more about me here ↙️

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My publishing journey was more stumbling and learning from mistakes than masterminding but…I always love hearing other writers’ publishing journeys so I thought I’d share mine. I hope it gives a little hope 💜

#widow #griefjourney #griefandloss #youngwidow #widowshelpingwidows #grief #writersofinstagram #amwriting #love #solomom #soloparent #loss #widowmom #widowlife #lifeafterloss #startingover #hotyoungwidowsclub #widowswithchildren #griefjourney #singlemomlife #writersofinstagram #writingcommunity #bookstagram by @theelaineroth

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4 years ago

Desert hikes. Boat rides. Mile climbs down (and back up!) to waterfalls. Charming villages. City gardens. Sunrises. Sunsets. Natural volcanic swimming pools. Black sand beaches. Cows in the road. Crystal clear water. A step into a new chapter. An honoring of a first chapter.

Madeira is a little of everything and the best of many things ❤️❤️

#madeira #visitmadeiraisland #widowlife #loveafterloss #blendedfamily

@hyattzivamadeira by @theelaineroth

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2 months ago

✨Very excited to share my first published article of 2025 ✨

For the majority of their lives, G, H, and I have been asking each other the same three questions at dinner. These questions have always sparked conversation, often caused debate, and never failed to bring us closer together. They are part of our tradition, part of our story, and it’s my honor to share them.

Thank you to @businessinsider for letting me share my story. by @theelaineroth

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2 years ago

Thrilled to be featured in Authority Magazine and so grateful for the chance to share my story.

@lucindarogerskoza

#birthstory #preemie #nicumom #postpartum

https://medium.com/authority-magazine/elaine-roth-what-i-did-to-heal-emotionally-and-physically-after-a-challenging-childbirth-d6fc8ae71757 by @theelaineroth

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2 years ago

So honored to contribute to this project! @sheknows examined what it’s like to be a teen boy today and what it means to “be a man” from a Gen Z perspective. The digital issue is now live!

https://www.sheknows.com/special-series/teen-boys-be-a-man-digital-issue/ by @theelaineroth

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2 years ago

This is the first house that was solely mine. Mine to decorate. Mine to maintain. Mine to turn into a home.

The house I walked into a little broken and a lot lost. The house I truly processed the heartache and grief of what Matt and I went through, how hard those years were and the permanent mark they left on me. The world will always look and feel different now.

The house in which I sat with my fear and decided I couldn’t let it define my tomorrow.

It’s the house I stepped into myself as a solo mom. Earned my Pilates certification. Wrote articles that helped millions of grieving moms feel seen. Published a book and made a dream come true.

Created something so special with G and H, that I feel grateful on a daily basis to get to experience it.

This is house where my babies became teenagers. Where they lost that childhood innocence. Where I started to see glimmers of the incredible adults they’ll become.

It’s the house we huddled in during a pandemic. The house we took family walks in because there was nothing else to do. The house we screamed at each other in because virtual school was a disaster for all, and especially for the solo parents trying to work.

This is the house we laughed in, cried in, fell apart in, stood back up in. It’s the house we did our best in.

This house, the one that won’t be ours tomorrow, is the house that I knew wasn’t going to be my forever home from the moment I installed a new water heater (long story), but not because I didn’t love the house—it’s such a pretty house—but because life has taught me “forever” can’t be attached to tangible things.

Forever is saved for the love I have for G and H. For Matt. For the man and the boys we’re moving in with and the family of six we’re creating.

#grief #youngwidow #blendedfamily #hope by @theelaineroth

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2 years ago

There were moments in this house—this house that I bought after Matt died, after cancer and death shattered my understanding of the universe—when I felt like I could do anything. And moments where I wondered why I ever thought I could do anything. Moments when solo mom life humbled me and moments when I knew we (G, H, and I) were creating something truly special.

�I’m so proud of what I’ve built with G and H in this house, the foundation we created over so many years—through the darkest days of grief, through a pandemic, through first days of elementary school and last days of middle school and all the tween-filled years in between. It’s something bigger than walls and floors. Something I hope they carry with them forever.

The thing about foundations, though, is that they are only ever beginnings. They’re meant to be the place from which you grow. And we are growing. Growing into a new space with more love around us, more light, and the chance to create something new and something that will no doubt be truly special.

Party of 3 to a party of 6 and always with Matt in our hearts ❤️

#widow #grief #movingforward #loveafterloss #writersofinstagram #widowlife by @theelaineroth

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2 years ago

Six years ago, on February 3, 2018, everything I believed about happily ever after, about fairness in the universe, about hope came crashing down. It happened in a heartbeat, in the quiet space between a breath and the one that never came. In that first moment of silence.

There’s nothing like that first moment of silence. The way it expands to fill a lifetime, the way it informs every moment that comes after it.

In the six years since that moment, I’ve seen the darkest parts of grief and the lightest parts of hope. I’ve written thousands of words about grief and still don’t know what to say. Especially today.

So I will say this. That first moment of silence informs every moment, but it doesn’t have to define every moment. Hope can come crashing down, but, if you let it, it’ll always find a way to rise back up. And grief...as sharp and vicious as it can be, it’s a tether to all that love, which never disappears.

Six years later, our—G, H, and mine—life looks different, in some ways unrecognizable. We’ve had ups and downs, challenges and triumphs, and moments of true lightness. We’re finding our way forward, with grief and love and hope in tow, and I think Matt would be proud. I know he would want nothing less.

#widow #griefjourney #griefandloss #youngwidow #widowshelpingwidows #grief #writersofinstagram #amwriting #love #solomom #soloparent #loss #widowmom #widowlife #lifeafterloss #startingover #hotyoungwidowsclub #widowswithchildren by @theelaineroth

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3 years ago

For most of my life birthdays have been complicated days. Widowhood and grief have added layers and textures to that.

It would be easy to hide from birthdays, to avoid the bad memories that haunt the day. To not celebrate and let the day pass as any other.

It would be easy, but it would also meaning choosing to live smaller, choosing to live with only pinpricks of light in the dark parts.

Given the choice between easier and smaller or complicated and infinite, the choice seems clear.

The choice is always a little more light, a little more love, a little more magic ❤️✨😍

#authorsofinstagram #birthday #widow #youngwidow #soloparents #singlemom #grief #hope #love #travel #LA #nobumalibu🍣 #casamadera #abbottkinney by @theelaineroth

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3 years ago

A small photo dump of the fun parts of the last few weeks since I haven’t made it here as much recently. (And I do mean small because I also haven’t taken many pictures.)

Writing about being a young widow and solo mom to two tween/teens sometimes, often times, has to take a back seat to the reality of living as a young widow and solo mom to two tween/teens. Sometimes the reality of living as a young widow and solo mom means there are no extra minutes in the day. The job of parenting tweens/teens requires adding minutes to the day—a feat which shouldn’t be possible but is...and any solo mom of teens will understand how it’s done.

It’s why it’s crucial to breathe into the moments of calm, to stay steady in the moments of unrest, and enjoy the parts that shine.

Thank you to @zibbyowens for including The Midnight Garden in her best of list! Top Novels of 2023 with the Best Sense of Voice! I am so deeply and wildly honored to be included in that list! ❤️

Happy Chanukah to all...and hoping for a little more light for us all.✨

The Midnight Garden is a Kindle Daily Deal TODAY in the UK—and almost out of stock there—so if you know anyone in the UK, tell them to grab a copy now! 🙌

#amazonpublishing #kindledailydeal #widow #griefjourney #griefandloss #youngwidow #widowshelpingwidows #grief #writersofinstagram #amwriting #love #solomom #soloparent #loss #widowmom #widowlife #lifeafterloss #startingover #hotyoungwidowsclub #widowswithchildren by @theelaineroth

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3 years ago

Truly blown away by the number of DMs, texts, and notes about this line from The Midnight Garden. I’m so glad these words are resonating with readers. ❤️

#widow #griefjourney #griefandloss #youngwidow #widowshelpingwidows #grief #writersofinstagram #amwriting #love #solomom #soloparent #loss #widowmom #widowlife #lifeafterloss #startingover #hotyoungwidowsclub #widowswithchildren #amwriting #debutauthors #booklover #themidnightgarden #booksbooksbooks by @theelaineroth

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3 years ago

I hosted Thanksgiving this year. My first time hosting as a widow, as a solo parent.

Before Matt got sick, we hosted all the time. We bought our house—the house I had once called our “forever house”—because it was marketed as an “entertaining house,” with plenty of room for guests to move and a kitchen with space to prep, cook, and socialize all at once.

My new house was not marketed as an entertaining house. I didn’t see hosting in my future. The thought of hosting felt too painful and too big of a job for one adult to do on their own while also taking care of two kids. It felt like it would cut into the heart of my grief, expose all that was lost, reopen wounds that took too long to scar over the first time.

But this year, something felt different. When the idea of hosting came up, it didn’t feel impossible. It didn’t feel heartbreaking. It felt like a fear I was ready to face, a challenge I was ready to step up to.

G and H helped—a lot, and maybe the best part of Thanksgiving was listening to music and prepping in the kitchen with them beforehand. Throughout the morning, the kitchen was scattered with rainbows, and it felt like maybe Matt was saying hi, letting us know he was glad to see us coming back to ourselves in this way. Maybe.

I didn’t take any pictures-except this one from my pre-prep run. For large swaths of the day, I didn’t know where my phone was to take pictures—so I can’t share any of those. But I can share this memory: at the end of the night, H told me he had fun cooking and hosting and hopes we can host Thanksgiving again. It’s a small comment, a tiny hope, and an important brick added to the life we’re rebuilding.

I’m grateful to the family who could make it yesterday and the family that couldn’t. Grateful for the old memories that filled the day and the new ones that were made. Grateful for all the help, especially with the turkey ❤️—I could not have hosted without it.

#widow #griefjourney #griefandloss #youngwidow #widowshelpingwidows #grief #writersofinstagram #amwriting #love #solomom #soloparent #loss #widowmom #widowlife #lifeafterloss #startingover #hotyoungwidowsclub #widowswithchildren by @theelaineroth

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3 years ago