• Writing Life. Toasting Hope.
  • My Blog
    • Bump Diaries: The Sequel
    • Moving Forward
    • My Pregnancy Journey
  • Coaching with Christina
  • Join My Email List
Christina Sgambato

Helping young widows reconstruct after loss

  • Writing Life. Toasting Hope.
  • My Blog
    • Bump Diaries: The Sequel
    • Moving Forward
    • My Pregnancy Journey
  • Coaching with Christina
  • Join My Email List
  • Writing Life. Toasting Hope.
  • My Blog
    • Bump Diaries: The Sequel
    • Moving Forward
    • My Pregnancy Journey
  • Coaching with Christina
  • Join My Email List

Interested in Coaching? Email me!

xtina@christinasgambato.com

Categories

The Vault

  • Moving Forward

    Five Years Without You– A Letter to Matt

    12/23/2024 /

    Tomorrow, Christmas Eve will mark five years since Matt left this earth. Five years of grief, change, and learning to exist in a world I never imagined. So much has changed, and yet, so much remains. About a month after Matt died, I penned a letter to him. It seems fitting to do the same, five years later. Five years feels like five minutes and five lifetimes. The initial sting of acute grief has dissipated, but new faces of grief emerge. The fear that accompanies time and distance. As I hold onto Matt’s memory and legacy, will other people? Will they remember his presence as vividly as I do? Even…

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    07/11/2021

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    03/07/2022
  • partnering with a widow
    Bump Diaries: The Sequel,  Uncategorized

    Building our Next Chapter: A Q&A with my husband on partnering and parenting with a widow.

    10/25/2024 /

    Hello friends. I cannot tell you how excited I am to share this blog. You have spent years following this story from my perspective as a young widow. Now, I’m bringing in a different perspective– one from the person on the other side of the love after loss chapter- my second husband, Paul. As we prepare to welcome our baby girl, Paul and I sat down to reflect on the journey that brought us to this moment—one woven with love, resilience, and a shared commitment to building a life together. So much of my story has been about navigating loss, healing, and finding joy again, but there’s another side to…

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    Christina Comments Off on Building our Next Chapter: A Q&A with my husband on partnering and parenting with a widow.

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    The 2024 Baby Registry Checklist: Essentials for Baby (and Gifts for Moms, Too!)

    11/14/2024

    This is 39: Reflections and Goals for 2025 (and 39)

    12/30/2024

    Balancing Joy and Grief in my Second Pregnancy after Widowhood

    10/13/2024
  • Moving Forward

    Our Next Chapter Has Begun

    09/10/2023 /

    Eighteen months. It’s been a year and a half since I last took pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and wrote on this blog. So much has happened. So much has changed. And there is just so much to share. Last time I checked in, you all learned about my “Band-Aid” date. Welp, Spoiler alert– I’m ENGAGED! Today, I’ll give you a quick run-through of how this all transpired. Many of you may know most of this, so hopefully, this isn’t too redundant and if it is, I promise, there will be more posts to come. Let’s begin with where I’ve been for the last eighteen months. This blog…

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    Christina Comments Off on Our Next Chapter Has Begun

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    Five Years Without You– A Letter to Matt

    12/23/2024
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    Advice for Friends and Family of Grievers

    06/26/2020

    This is 39: Reflections and Goals for 2025 (and 39)

    12/30/2024
  • Widow Dating Blog
    Moving Forward

    Dating Update

    02/28/2022 /

    Hello friends. This week has been heavy, on a macro level. I’ve tried to balance following the war in Ukraine, donating to reputable, vetted causes, finding credible sources, and carrying on with our day-to-day life, knowing that in the background, people are experiencing this unthinkable, unjust terror.  My club, the one no one ever wants to be a part of, will grow exponentially as a result of this war. People will die, as so many have in the past, defending their homes, their families, their land, and their freedom. It is gut wrenching. And yet, I still feel the heaviness and the hard of my little world; it seems so insignificant…

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    Christina Comments Off on Dating Update

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    Grief Myth Busters According to Xtina

    02/21/2020

    I’m Moving: The New England Chapter

    10/01/2020

    A Tribute to My Husband, Matt

    01/24/2020
  • Moving Forward

    The Holidays in Grief: Another Secondary Loss

    12/10/2021 /

    It’s taken me some time to get this blog post up, partly because this time of year, in general, is still hard to process. I’ve honestly thought about taking an actual break from it all; from writing my blog, from social media in general, from publicly transcribing this very real journey I’m on. The loss of Matt, the roller coasters of emotions, my journey into dating. Is it too much? Is it too heavy? For me. For my readers. For my family and friends who have, to some degree, had to relive this devastation and walk alongside me in the aftermath. Ironically, this morning, I received an email from one…

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    Christina Comments Off on The Holidays in Grief: Another Secondary Loss

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    MY RESPONSE TO COVID-19

    03/21/2020

    Our Next Chapter Has Begun

    09/10/2023

    Our Cholangiocarcinoma Story: A Big WTF

    05/18/2020
  • mohope2020 vs.mohope2021
    Balanced Mind,  Moving Forward

    A Matter of Hope 2020 vs. A Matter of Hope 2021: A Reflection on My Personal Growth

    08/20/2021 /

    What a month, friends. Last we spoke, I let you all know that Bryson, Chuck, and I are moving back to Baltimore! A week from today, we close on our house in Charm City and give Baltimore a second breath of Sgambato-life. Can’t get rid of us that easy! If you missed my announcement, make sure to check out my Baltimore blog post, where I go into a bit more detail on why I made this decision and all the factors contributing to this decision. As our close date swiftly approaches, and  A Matter of Hope-2021 wraps up, I’ve been doing some reflecting on what I’ve learned over this past…

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    Christina Comments Off on A Matter of Hope 2020 vs. A Matter of Hope 2021: A Reflection on My Personal Growth

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    08/02/2018
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    08/09/2018
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    Labor Day Weekend: A Healthier Approach

    08/31/2018
  • Moving Forward

    Preconceptions About Dating As A Young Widow

    04/15/2021 /

    About a month ago, I wrote my first “dating” blog post touching on my revelation that I’m ready to date again. In that post, I mentioned  I still have preconceptions about dating I wanted to work through, which brings us here. While I haven’t spoken much about dating since that post, quite a few friends and family members (I think), felt a little relieved to talk to me about it without “offending” me. I’m not easily offended, but I appreciate their level of care. For the record, I still haven’t gone on any dates or even remotely spoken to someone with the potential of going on a date. I’ve been…

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    Christina Comments Off on Preconceptions About Dating As A Young Widow

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    Enjoying Life in the “And”

    06/22/2024
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    07/11/2021
    One Year Without Matt

    One Year Without You, Matt

    12/21/2020
  • permisson to date again
    Moving Forward

    Permission To Date Again As a Young Widow

    03/10/2021 /

    A couple weeks ago, I was having A WEEK. Sometimes, all of this can be so, overwhelming. And if there’s one thing I know, nothing productive comes from a feeling of “overwhelm.” So, I gave myself permission to take a day off from work for no reason at all except to work through all the messiness happening inside my brain.  And what I realized was, it’s time to start giving myself permission. And that, my friends, is the inspiration for this three part blog series. Over the next few weeks,  I’ll be sharing three different points of “permission,” starting things off with the heaviest of the three, “permission to date…

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    Christina Comments Off on Permission To Date Again As a Young Widow

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    Reflections– One Year of Widowhood

    12/17/2020
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    08/20/2021
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    Keeping Their Memory Alive in Grief

    04/02/2021
  • young widow
    Moving Forward

    The Reality of Grief

    02/01/2021 /

    I recently posted my Sunday update calling for questions from you all. And then I realized, WTF am I doing? I could hear Matt saying “Christina, write what you want to write. No need to censor it or try to appease everyone else.” The truth is, I knew what I wanted to write, but I worry that writing about the reality of grief is “too dark” for people. Most of my readers are family, friends, old classmates, and people I’m connected to outside the grief world (nope, still not a famous blogger over here). Reading about grief is not uplifting and it is definitely not for the person looking for…

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    Christina Comments Off on The Reality of Grief

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    Grief Myth Busters According to Xtina

    02/21/2020

    I’m Moving: The New England Chapter

    10/01/2020
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    Permission To Date Again As a Young Widow

    03/10/2021
  • One Year Without Matt
    Mom Life,  Moving Forward

    One Year Without You, Matt

    12/21/2020 /

    Over the course of the year, I’ve shared my experiences as a young, widowed mom. I’ve done everything in my power to preserve Matt’s legacy, show the world what an incredible (and slightly off-center) person he was, and to continue fighting for him every damn day. I’ve probably overshared some of my deepest fears, concerns, and experiences.

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 Older Posts

Recent Posts

  • Life After Pregnancy: The Fourth Trimester Hits Different
  • This is 39: Reflections and Goals for 2025 (and 39)
  • Five Years Without You– A Letter to Matt
  • Second Trimester Recap: Navigating New Emotions and Familiar Challenges
  • The 2024 Baby Registry Checklist: Essentials for Baby (and Gifts for Moms, Too!)

Christina Sgambato

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