Key points

Losing a longtime partner may require adjustments in self-perception.

Your identity may have been entwined with your partner in ways you were not aware of.

Life after the loss of a longtime partner is a process of becoming.

In a few days I’ll be leaving on a long road trip, just me and my two dogs escaping the Texas heat for the Pacific Northwest.

I’m no stranger to solo travel, or even solo road trips, having done this sort of thing since I was 19. I traveled solo even through my marriage —partly because for many years I earned my living as a travel writer. I preferred having Tom with me—especially driving trips because he was good road trip company—but it wasn’t always possible. (It was on our first road trip, to California, that I decided we had happily-every-after pot

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