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After a few years of navigating widowhood, the women in my grief group encouraged me to get back “out there.”

Although I found him attractive, we were not on each other’s radars until I was nearly a year into my widowhood.

Queen Victoria came in for relentless criticism for hiding away in her widowhood for 40 years, dodging public engagements, not giving “value for money” by keeping the glittering royal show wrapped in mourning.

The art project was launched in January by Olena Sokalska, who lost her husband years ago in a car accident and says she understands the emotional journey of widowhood.

That raises barriers for older Americans hoping to renovate or retrofit their homes, or to extract home equity as a buffer against medical expenses, widowhood or other crises.