Living Forward After Loss: Rebuilding Your Life After Losing Your Loved Ones

By Kathleen Ho and Richard Williams

When the loved one you once had is no longer here, your world collapses in front of your eyes. You may alternate between great pain and numbness and find yourself unsure how to continue your life without them. The loss of a loved one through death or any other reason can be a harrowing experience requiring years of recovery.

Author Kathleen Ho lost her significant other, David Bigby, in 2015. The life they built together fell apart with David’s death. It took her one year and a half to bounce back to life. Now, Kathleen seeks to help those struggling with losing loved ones to honor her late David’s life. By sharing practical strategies that grievers can adopt in their journey to recovery, she hopes you will stand back up and fight for your happiness.

Kathleen also encourages readers to consider whether they have made the most of their precious time on Earth. The future belongs to those willing to move forward despite experiencing significant losses.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9781665575515

Kathleen Ho

Kathleen Ho is a Vietnamese woman who immigrated to the United States in 1994. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Cal Poly Pomona and has worked in the educational field for over ten years. Besides having a passion for teaching, Kathleen loves to write. Kathleen is the author of two self-help books, including Living Forward After Loss and Seeking Life’s Purpose, and co-author of a cookbook entitled Everyday Vietnamese Cooking (with Richard Williams). Contact her at [e-mail].

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© 2022 Kathleen Ho. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse   11/15/2022

ISBN: 978-1-6655-7550-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-7551-5 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in

this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views

expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the

views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

In loving memory of my beloved soul mate, David Bigby.

Foreword

Dear Readers:

As a senior manager and mentor at SpaceX, I have often traveled around the world and met many people in my life. But I have seldom met someone like Kathleen-kind, innovative, and exceptionally resilient.

I met Kathleen more than a year ago; we became great friends and business partners. Kathleen and I are co-authors of a cookbook, Everyday Vietnamese Cooking. Having the same cooking hobby, we decided to write a cookbook together.

The more I get to know Kathleen, the more I admire her. Kathleen is the most determined and courageous person I’ve met. She has gone through a lot in her life but never gave up. Immigrating to the United States at 25, Kathleen overcame the language barrier to become a software engineer seven years later. When she was excited to begin her promising career, Kathleen was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Once again, Kathleen fought and won this health battle. Even though Kathleen survived, she has had a migraine for the rest of her life. However, Kathleen still had faith in life; she returned to school and earned her teaching credential.

Nonetheless, life still did not smile at her. Kathleen lost her significant other of ten years in 2015 due to a stroke. This tremendous loss traumatized her life one more time. But with the determination to find happiness again, Kathleen found the inner strength to stand on her own feet. Step by step, she returned to her everyday life within one and a half years as a more robust and wiser person. To honor her late soul mate, Kathleen bravely wrote this book to share her story with the world with the hope of helping those who struggle with any loss in life.

I related to many things Kathleen shared in this book. I lost two loved ones-my high school sweetheart and my father. One guy rapped and killed my girlfriend when I was in college, and cancer took my father’s life. Thus, I feel the struggle and pain Kathleen endured while trying to get back to life. More importantly, I believe the coping strategies in this book are helpful guidance for anyone facing loss. I learned about them from the professional therapist who helped me deal with my sweetheart’s loss back then.

Kathleen’s story moved me. It is the most beautiful and inspiring story I’ve learned. How could Kathleen do a fantastic and challenging job? An immigrant with broken English and many hardships has beat up all odds in life and become a published author. Yes, Kathleen is the most disciplined and resilient person I’ve known. She has not allowed any obstacle to stop her from becoming successful. More crucially, Kathleen is willing to show the big scar in her heart to motivate others to fight for their happiness. She put her heart and soul into this book.

With that in mind, I am honored to write the foreword for this book. I proudly introduce Kathleen, my wonderful friend with a warm and brave heart, and her book, Living Forward After Loss. This book is an excellent source for grievers. Only someone who has gone through many losses in life (from deadly illness to the death of a life partner) but always strongly bounced back, like Kathleen, can write such a valuable guide for us to deal with losses in life.

I believe anyone facing loss from death or any other reason will find a suitable coping way in this book. You will also find the hope back with Kathleen’s unbelievably uplifting story.

Best Wishes,

Richard Williams

Acknowledgments

I could not finish this book without the tremendous support from my friends and family. First, I would like to thank all my colleagues at Alternative, Community, and Correctional Education School and Services (ACCESS) for their tremendous support. I am also grateful for the love and care of the All Nations Toastmasters Club members.

I am deeply thankful to Erin and Keith Ramachandra, the author of the book Mental Health Strong, for their constant support. Erin and Keith, you have done too much for me, from lifting me when I am down and walking me through the process of publishing this book.

Besides, I will never forget my two wonderful friends, Jill Graboswki and Scott Hogan, for their assistance. Jill and Scott spent their whole weekend coming up with titles and subtitles for each chapter of this book. Jill also spent many Sunday mornings working with me on my pronunciation. And I greatly appreciate my four other amazing friends: Marshal Lancaster, Robin Anderson, Erika Lopez, and Tara De la Cruz. They all took the time to edit this book.

In addition, I would like to thank my family and friends for their unconditional love and support. My family and friends (Sohayla, Nalin, Miriam, Mikey, Zach, Long, Thanh, Thao, Albert and Alicia, Tony, Arcee, Adriana, Asif, Cristina, Barbara and George Haddad, Lisa Webb, and Shirley Tan) have always been there for me during my difficult time to deal with the death of David.

I will also never forget the care and support of staffers from the following hospitals and nursing homes: Long Beach Memorial Center, Community Hospital of Long Beach, Los Alamitos Hospital, Edgewater Nursing Home (Long Beach, California), and Zeba Hospice (Paramount, California). Thank you so much for taking good care of my late David.

I greatly appreciate the Author House team for helping me publish this book’s second and most updated version. It is my honor and pleasure to work with you. And I also thank the iUniverse team for publishing the first version of this book in 2020. You both have been super helpful, and I wish you the best in your endeavors.

Finally, I am grateful for the tremendous support of Richard Williams, my great friend and co-author of my second book Everyday Vietnamese Cooking. Richard took the time to read and analyze this book and gave me helpful advice.

To My Readers

I wrote and published this book in 2020 after losing my significant late partner, David Bigby. And I republished it again in 2022; I changed the subtitle from Rebuilding Your Life After Losing Your Life Partner to Rebuilding Your Life After Losing Your Loved ones. I received letters from readers that my book gave them hope; some lost their parents and friends, and others lost their spouses and children.

In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic made me reevaluate my life. We lost around 6.5 million people during the 2 -3 year period. Many of us lost someone very dear to our hearts. COVID took the life of three friends of mine, and cancer took my nephew’s life during this pandemic. And I know many of you are also dealing with the death of your loved ones. Like you, this unthinkable loss breaks my heart and makes me wonder what is most important to me.

With that in mind, I have asked myself why I am here on Earth. The large-scale worldwide crisis, COVID-19, made me realize life is so short and precious. There is no guarantee that we will still be here the following day. You and I may not wake up tomorrow. Thus, we must do our best and use our time wisely while still alive.

I do not want to regret my life when thinking about it on my deathbed. I must ensure my dreams will not fly around and ask why I did not make them come true when the angel of death comes to get me. I have dug deep