KATE SEIDMAN
Biographies
106 Words
Kate Seidman graduated from New York University in 1970. After graduation, she drove across the country to California where she secured a coveted teaching position in the Berkeley Unified School District. She has taught art from third grade to the college level. Kate has had numerous business ventures, including a porcelain jewelry business, a silk painting studio and school, and a woman’s clothing shop called The Art Room.
​
After the death of her beloved husband Mitch, Kate persevered and built a new life for herself. She now divides her time between the town where they raised their three children, Gloucester, Massachusetts, and her home in Florida.
80 Words
Kate Seidman graduated from New York University in 1970. After graduation, she drove across the country to California where she secured a coveted teaching position in the Berkeley Unified School District. She has taught art from third grade to the college level.
After the death of her beloved husband Mitch, Kate persevered and built a new life for herself. She now divides her time between the town where they raised their three children, Gloucester, Massachusetts, and her home in Florida.
KATE SEIDMAN
Book Introductions
436 Words
I never thought I would be a widow. It never occurred to me Mitch would ever die. He was strong and fearless. Then, when he was about to turn 66, he got very sick and died suddenly.
​
I was in shock and living in a fog. I didn't rant, or scream. I started calling myself the Widow Seidman. Trying to get used to the idea of “widow,” the unthinkable. I was more comfortable with humor than grief. I started keeping a journal. I wanted to be conscious and remember what was happening to me. Writing became a daily practice, a safe place to unravel my fears and uncertainties. I believe that writing saved me, and I highly recommend it to everyone, especially to those who are grieving.
My mother was Jewish but raised without religion and my father lost faith in his Jewish orthodox upbringing at a young age, so they raised my four brothers and me as cultural Jews with no religious belief or education. When I married Mitch, we joined his family’s temple and became part of a wonderful Jewish community. We weren’t religious, but we enjoyed learning about being Jewish.
Mitch and I lived by the sea. The morning after he died, I looked out my window at the ocean and thought, Where is he, where did he go? Will we ever meet again? He left so suddenly, and it felt like he’d be back. I thought there must be more to this world and how it works than I could ever know or understand. I felt Mitch all around me then and continue to feel his presence even now.
I moved my wedding ring to my right hand; it is a sign of having once been married. I am now a single woman. When Mitch died, I had not been a single woman for forty years. It was uncharted territory, uncomfortable and lonely. Now I realize I have done so many things I would not have done if I were still married to him. For example: travel, date, and buy a house by myself. Would Mitch have ever moved to Florida? I don’t think so.
I created this book of my widow experiences to help other widows feel less lonely and to help them see what a new life could look like. I tried to make this book easy to read and as funny as I could considering the subject. The book has stories, poems, facts, and my illustrations. Simply, it is a gentle guide showing you a path, giving you some ideas, so you too, can create your own new life.
204 Words
I never thought I would be a widow. It never occurred to me Mitch would ever die. He was strong and fearless. Then, when he was about to turn 66, he got very sick and died suddenly.
I was in shock and living in a fog. I didn't rant, or scream. I started calling myself the Widow Seidman. Trying to get used to the idea of “widow,” the unthinkable. I was more comfortable with humor than grief. I started keeping a journal. I wanted to be conscious and remember what was happening to me. Writing became a daily practice, a safe place to unravel my fears and uncertainties. I believe that writing saved me, and I highly recommend it to everyone, especially to those who are grieving.
I created this book of my widow experiences to help other widows feel less lonely and to help them see what a new life could look like. I tried to make this book easy to read and as funny as I could considering the subject. The book has stories, poems, facts, and my illustrations. Simply, it is a gentle guide showing you a path, giving you some ideas, so you too, can create your own new life.
77 Words
I created this book of my widow experiences to help other widows feel less lonely and to help them see what a new life could look like. I tried to make this book easy to read and as funny as I could considering the subject. The book has stories, poems, facts, and my illustrations. Simply, it is a gentle guide showing you a path, giving you some ideas, so you too, can create your own new life.
KATE SEIDMAN
Book Testimonials
"The Widow Roadmap is on of the dearest books I’ve read in a long time—a wondrous, brave, heartbreaking, life-affirming, and beautifully illustrated account of moving through sudden and unexpected loss. I love, love, love this book. I could not put it down."
Harriet Lerner, Ph.D., author of The Dance of Anger and Why Won’t You Apologize?
"... Kate's delightful sketches bring a certain whimsy and lightness to the reader's experiences. And the totality of the story shows what a great love can mean and do for the human spirit."
Larry Hirschhorn, author of Workplace Within & Dr. Marla Isaacs, author of The Difficult Divorce
"This is a one-of-a-kind book about deep mourning that heals you as you read it. Kate Seidman writes with a light touch, beautiful and tender and true. She is our Persephone, guiding us as we travel with her from the depth of despair to the light of a new day."
Lindsay Crouse, academy award-nominated actress
"The Widow Roadmap takes us on a journey from bereavement and heartache to the discovery of new meaning. Without ever denying the enormity of her loss or the practical challenges of coping with unfamiliar tasks, Seidman finds solace, through tears and laughter, in the love of friends and family, the joy of discovering new places, and the dance of life. A powerful and honest memoir."
Paul Lewis, Boston College Professor of English Emeritus, author of Cracking Up: American Humor in a Time of Conflict
"Whimsical and profound, deeply personal and yet universal, Kate Seidman’s enchanting book about her journey through widowhood is a must-read for anyone who has experienced loss, no matter what kind. This is a book to read, reread, and savor—especially if you need a good laugh or cry. Move over Alison Bechdel and Roz Chast!"
Abbe Smith, author of Guilty People and Carried Away: The Chronicles of a Feminist Cartoonist
"This book, with beautiful art and sketches—drawn by Kate—and her gentle humor, offers the one who is left behind, a map of compassion for the awful confusion of loss. You already know this path is full of anguish that knows no sense nor logic. You may be walking this now. Kate knows this and has sketched a gift to transform this awful dream into healing and beauty."
Dr. Royce Fitts, author of The Geography of the Soul: Dreams, Reality, and the Journey of a Lifetime
SUBSCRIBE TO MY MAILING LIST
Stay Connected
If you sign up for my mailing list, I will email you a free digital copy of my red flag illustration as a thank you for wanting to stay connected!