Natalie Taylor (Author of Signs of Life)

0 ratings | 0 reviews | avg rating:0.0

Natalie Taylor鈥檚 Followers (49)

Natalie鈥檚 Bookshelves

read (0)
currently-reading (0)
to-read (0)

Natalie鈥檚 Friends

Natalie hasn't connected with her friends on 欧宝娱乐, yet.

Natalie Taylor

欧宝娱乐 Author

Website

Member Since

February 2012

URL

/Natalie_Taylor

edit data

Any time I meet someone new, at some point he or she discovers that I am a mom and I do not wear a wedding ring. No matter what else I have to offer to the world, this image of having a child and no wedding ring still startles people. "I'm a single mom," I say. Usually I get a really lighthearted, "Oh!" An "Oh" that is said with this really nice ring to it where as the speaker of the "Oh" is trying to impress upon me that they are not judging me. They are completely accepting of me and my baby-mama-ness. They are okay with these things. They are forward-thinking, open-minded people.

Eventually they ask something like, "Well does your son have a relationship with his father," or "Does his dad help you out at all?" And then I have to say, "Ac Any time I meet someone new, at some point he or she discovers that I am a mom and I do not wear a wedding ring. No matter what else I have to offer to the world, this image of having a child and no wedding ring still startles people. "I'm a single mom," I say. Usually I get a really lighthearted, "Oh!" An "Oh" that is said with this really nice ring to it where as the speaker of the "Oh" is trying to impress upon me that they are not judging me. They are completely accepting of me and my baby-mama-ness. They are okay with these things. They are forward-thinking, open-minded people.

Eventually they ask something like, "Well does your son have a relationship with his father," or "Does his dad help you out at all?" And then I have to say, "Actually, I'm a widow." And then the person goes white or their eyes widen and they just stare at me and I end up feeling like a jerk because they don't know what to say. "No, no, it's fine," I stammer, "I mean it's not fine, but we're fine, I'm mean we're okay鈥�" and in all of my stammering, this poor person is trying to say something nice. "Oh my鈥 am so鈥hat is so鈥�" but I feel bad for them because I somehow feel like I've roped them into this emotional experience and now we have to talk about it and I have to make them feel like they have nothing to feel sorry about. Sometimes this whole ordeal is so exhausting and predictable that I tell myself I should just wear my wedding ring to avoid these awkward situations. But I can't wear my wedding ring. I can't wear it because I'm not married. I am a widow.

You would think after three and a half years of dealing with the loss of my husband, there would be other wonderful things on which my identity could rest. I'm a teacher, I have a wonderful son, I'm a writer now too. But somehow, whenever I sit down to work out a problem or tell my life story, it always comes back to the same thing: I am a widow. So, let's just start there.

Three and a half years ago I lost my amazing husband, Josh, in an accident. He was Carveboarding down a cement embankment and he lost his balance and hit his head. He fell in such a way that killed him nearly instantly. Now, I'm sure, like the rest of the world, you're thinking, "Well, what on earth is he doing going down a cement embankment on a board on wheels that wobble with no helmet!" And sure, that is legitimate question, but clearly you don't know Josh. He was king of tricky stunts. He loved activities that involved risky, challenging situations where he had to use his own body and brain to figure them out. And the craziest part is, we never worried about him. He had such impeccable balance and such confidence in his own abilities, no one batted an eye when he built a ramp off the end of the dock at Elk Lake and went flying down it on a bicycle for an eight year old. No one gasped in worry when he back-flipped off a fifty-foot cliff over the Salmon River in Idaho. He was always all right, except for this one blink of a moment that ended up costing his life.

At the time of the accident, I was five months pregnant with our first child. A month prior to Josh's death, we found out we were having a boy. Josh kept insisting that we should name him something ridiculous like Cougar or Hawk. I nodded politely at all of his stupid ideas, knowing full well that if I was carrying this boy for nine months and I was going to be the one delivering him, I sure as hell would have the final say on the name. Oddly enough, I got my wish, just not in the way I had planned. Kai Joshua Taylor was born on October 18, 2007. In the months following Josh's death and after the birth of Kai, I kept a journal. I had these crazy things in my head and I had to get them out. I couldn't exactly call my mom every five minutes and tell her why I was crying for the seventeenth time that day and it was only nine a.m. (though she would have listened). And I did go see a psychologist, but I had a lot more than one-hours worth of stu ...more

40 posts
Natalie Taylor's Blog

I've MOVED! 聽For updated posts from Natalie Taylor, check...

I've MOVED! 聽

For updated posts from Natalie Taylor, check out my new blog at:

Read more of this blog post »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on August 25, 2012 09:37

View all 40 posts »

Combine Editions
Natalie Taylor鈥檚 books

Average rating: 3.81 · 2,381 ratings · 407 reviews · 28 distinct works 鈥� Similar authors

	Signs of Life: A Memoir 3.81 avg rating — 2,344 ratings — published 2011 — 17 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Perils of the Mind. 4.60 avg rating — 5 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Life, Love and Losing at Both.: The story of a truly hopeless romantic. 3.80 avg rating — 5 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rodeo Hearts 2.33 avg rating — 3 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Brianna it was ok 2.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2015	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Juveniles in Detention in Australia, 1981-2007 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2009 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Austin College 2012 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2011	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Impact of Pre-Recorded Video and Closed Circuit Television Testimony by Adult Sexual Assault Complainants on Jury Decision-Making: An Experimental Study by Natalie Taylor (欧宝娱乐 Author), Australian Institute of (Contributor) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2005	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cactus Alley (Volume #17) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1997	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Beyond the Pages 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Natalie Taylor…

Quotes by Natalie Taylor (?)

“All I know is it feels good to cry that hard. It's like cleaning the leaves out from the gutters. If the leaves sit there too long, they weigh on the metal and hurt the house.”
― Natalie Taylor

6 likes

“But always too soon, right after a fleeting moment of hope, the floor opens up and I sink to the bottom again.”
― Natalie Taylor, Signs of Life: A Memoir

4 likes

“One of the best things Dr. G. told me was that I didn't have to judge every new situation I encountered. Living alone, for example. She said I didn't have to say that living alone was good or bad, I could just live alone and not make a judgement on it.”
― Natalie Taylor

3 likes

See all Natalie Taylor's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Crazy Challenge C...: Team 2, Fellowship of the Worms, BB 4	715	101	Dec 09, 2014 08:05PM
Crazy Challenge C...: September 2014 spell challenge - Simply September	161	109	Dec 15, 2014 03:14PM
Crazy Challenge C...: September 2014 Monthly Scavenger Challenge	151	123	Dec 15, 2014 03:15PM
Crazy Challenge C...: New-to-You Authors 2014	742	195	Jun 14, 2015 09:03PM
Crazy Challenge C...: Commercial Jingles	232	145	Oct 06, 2015 10:38AM
Crazy Challenge C...: A-Z Male Characters - 2014	116	101	Dec 24, 2015 09:52PM

More…

欧宝娱乐