Four Years Since Rosemary Passed Away — Answering: How are you guys doing?

4 min readMay 27, 2023

May 25, 2012 marked four years since my wonderful wife Rosemary passed away.

Recently I’ve been reflecting back on the many changes that have occurred in our family since Rosemary died. Here is an excerpt of some of these thoughts, mostly to answer the frequent question, “How are you guys doing?”

For those who knew Rosemary, our lives were so much richer as a result. We will see her again some day in heaven, but for now, a big hole has been left.

The kids and I are doing okay, whatever “okay” means. We’ve adjusted to many new roles and responsibilities and norms. We had a great trip out East last summer; lots of fun and new memories. But things are different than they used to be. And being a single parent is the pits, by the way.

Rosemary’s continual love and encouragement and her “scheduling of family life” was something that we all appreciated and enjoyed, yet it has been unparalleled since. She was the glue that kept everything working together and the grease that kept everything running smoothly. But today is a different reality. These are my responsibilities now, which is fine, but it’s different.

I think about Rosemary often. Whether it be regarding experiences we had shared together, or that I want to tell her about something new, but then I remember…

The other day our extended Braun family was gathering at a restaurant to celebrate my mother’s retirement. We were seated around a large table and I looked through one of the windows to a building across the street — wait, I recognize that building. That’s where Rosemary worked part-time at her last job. A bit later my father says to me, “Do you recognize that building across the street?” (He would often drive Rosemary to/from work in the later months when she could no longer drive herself.) Yes, memories pop up everywhere…

On a recent Sunday at church, during one of the opening songs, my eye caught a flash of sunlight reflecting off of the wedding rings of a mother across the aisle. A tear formed in my eye. I don’t know why. Was it because the mother of our children is no longer able to be with the children she loved so dearly and vice versa, or was it because it was Mother’s Day. I don’t know. These things happen now and usually without warning.

It’s difficult to answer the oft-asked question, “So how are you guys doing, really?” The changes to our lives, our family, our goals and dreams, almost everything — it all changed significantly in 2008.

But one thing that hasn’t changed is that our faith remains strong. We know that our God is with us and will continue to provide us with the comfort and strength that we need in any situation we face, as long as we put our trust in Him. God doesn’t cause all of these bad circumstances to occur, but He promises to always be with us and to help us through whatever we are facing. And He will also help us to grow and learn from these experiences so that we are better able to help others in similar circumstances in the future.

Rosemary impacted so many of us. She will never be forgotten. I miss her dearly.

This is not a path I would have chosen, obviously, but it has happened. I have my children and the support of both of our extended families. We have our health. We have the support of many friends. We attend a great church. Our God is providing for our needs. Therefore, instead of staring into tomorrow like a deer into headlights or burying our proverbial head in the sand, we choose, and it is a choice, to look forward to whatever this new version of the future has in store for us, one step at a time.

Next writings in this series about Rosemary:

This writing was originally posted on May 25, 2012 in Facebook Notes.

Four Years Since Rosemary Passed Away — Answering: How are you guys doing?

Written by Doug Braun