For the Love of Joseph

Benita Glickman

Description

This memoir shares messages of eternal love and wisdom from the afterlife and how they provide one woman with priceless life lessons and facilitate her growth and healing.

In For the Love of Joseph, Benita Glickman’s latest memoir, the author chronicles signs, dreams, and visions from Joseph Larizza, the love of her life and husband of thirty-eight years. Messages of eternal love and wisdom from the afterlife provide priceless life lessons that accommodate Benita’s adjustment to his passing, and facilitate her growth.

You mustn’t be so hard on yourself. Your life has changed now that we’re not together in the physical sense.… What was once so important to us, isn’t going to be that important to you now. Although you’ll always remember who we were together, you must thrive on your own. Try to accept that. You’ll always have my love, whatever you do. As I live and breathe within you, know I’m smiling down at you. What’s important now is your happiness.

Benita reflects on the meaning of love and the vital part it plays in life. She compares it to a seed that—when joyously planted and nurtured—strengthens us and paves our way for growth.

“It’s what I felt from, and gave to, Joseph, every day we spent together.… But for the love of Joseph, I mightn’t have healed as quickly, and couldn’t have flourished in the same way I did.”

Journey alongside the author as she revisits memories of her beloved Joseph and explores the fundamental workings and principles of the afterlife. You’ll smile and shed a few tears as you experience the couple’s eternal love through Joseph’s messages from the Other Side.

Sujets

• afterlife
• Personal Memoirs
• Biography
• Autobiography

Informations

• Publié par: Archway Publishing
• Date de parution: 26 septembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781665724746
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

For the Love of Jos eph Testimon ials
“For the Love of Joseph is a powerful memoir of a loved one’s loss and her journey to recovery. It touched me deeply.”
Diane Dettmann
—author of Twenty -E ight Snow Angels: A Widow’s Story of Love, Loss and Ren ewal
“A fusion of faith, poetry, and prose add depth to Benita Glickman’s tender memoir about the love shared with her adored Joseph—in both this world and the Other World. Any woman who has suffered the overwhelming loss of a much-loved soul mate will find both comfort and guidance in these pages.”
Judy Croome
—author of Drop by Drop: poems of loss
“Benita Glickman’s elegantly written memoir is a true testament of unconditional love that transcends death and serves as a guide for the living.”
Nancy Viera
—author of The Grief and The Happiness: A Me moir
“In For the Love of Joseph, Benita Glickman shares her personal, often spiritual, experiences that prove to readers that love does not end with death. She shows readers that love is greater than our physical world and can in fact help guide us in healing. A must read for those struggling with trying to better understand their spiritual connection with their loved one.”
Autumn Toelle-Jackson
—author of Boldly into the Darkness: Living with Loss, Growing with Grief & Holding onto Happi ness
“Benita’s beautifully woven stories remind us of what we all long to know in our grief, that our relationship with the loved ones we lose doesn’t end just because they are gone.”
Liz Petrone
—author of The Price of Admission: Embracing a Life of Grief and Joy
“Through dreams, narrative details of her earthly life with Joseph, and tender poems to her beloved, Benita offers a poignant and hopeful framework for navigating profound grief and a path to healing. As the author writes, ‘Love is a seed that—when joyously planted and nurtured—strengthens us and paves our way for growth.’ This book is a testament to the unbreakable bond of love.”
Lyssa Black Fassett
—author of Alive in This World: Tracking Light Through the Wilderness
FOR THE LOVE OF JOSEPH
 
 
 
 
 
BENITA GLICKMAN
 
 
 
 

 
 
Copyright © 2022 Benita Glickman
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
 
 
Archway Publishing
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.archwaypublishing.com
844-669-3957
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6657-2171-4 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-2473-9 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-2474-6 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022910688
 
 
 
Archway Publishing rev. date: 9/23/2022
This book is dedicate d to
Joseph Anthony Larizza

who dedicated his life to learning, teaching, and loving me.
Also by Benita Glickman
Greetings from the Other Side: A Story of Love, Loss, and the After life
Then and Now: Snapshots of My Life
Living Between Two Wo rlds
On a Path to Spiritual Enlighten ment
Spirits Walk Amon g Us
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I – A Poetic Start
An Elegy for Joseph
Within Living Memory
Seeing Is Believing
All my mornings start with mourning
Sestina of My Life with Joseph
Somewhere along the Way We Just Stop Dreaming
Part II – Life’s Gifts
Chapter 1 A Retrospective of Our Life
Chapter 2 Friendship
Chapter 3 My Birthday
Chapter 4 “You’re Irreplaceable to Me”
Chapter 5 Together Again
Chapter 6 Bambina, Reincarnated
Chapter 7 A Message from My Dad
Part III – Divine Favors
Chapter 8 The Nor’easter
Chapter 9 Jury Duty
Chapter 10 At the Courthouse
Chapter 11 E-ZPass
Chapter 12 The Magic of the New Moon
Chapter 13 Our Gratitude Journal Entries
Part IV – Joseph’s Spirit
Chapter 14 The Cherry Trees
Chapter 15 The Ancient Tree
Chapter 16 Do You Remember?
Chapter 17 Traditions
Chapter 18 Telepathy
Chapter 19 An Outing with Friends
Part V – Focusing Ahead
Chapter 20 Bringing Friends Together
Chapter 21 Getting a Booster Shot
Chapter 22 One More Summer
Chapter 23 A Difficult Decision
Chapter 24 Signs from Joseph
Chapter 25 Our Caribbean Adventure
Part VI – The Nuts and Bolts of It All
Chapter 26 We’re All Interconnected
Chapter 27 Next Lives
Chapter 28 The Afterlife
Chapter 29 The Rules
Part VII – A Poetic Finish
Joseph’s Visits Pantoum
Our Changing Relationship
Color Me Blue
My Miracle of Love
The Witching Hour Villanelle
Conclusion
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I a cknowledge the same people in each book I write.
I’m humbly grateful for their kindness and support.
Jose ph, my partner, whom I’ve loved since first sight,
Fami ly members and friends, to make a long story short.
I’m humbly grateful for their kindness and support.
My social worker, my editor, and my writing coach,
Family members and friends, to make a long story short.
They listen and encourage me without reproach.
My social worker, my editor, and my writing coach,
Joseph, my partner, whom I’ve loved since first sight.
They listen and encourage me without reproach.
I acknowledge the same people in each book I write.
My heartfelt appreciation goes to all of you, in this world and in the beyond, who facilitated—each in your unique ways—the fruition of this memoir: Joseph Larizza, Bubbe, Mark Glickman, Esther Glickman, Bambina, Myra Josephberg, Neil Josephberg, Jerry Josephberg, Cecile Hall, Marie Hall, Pat Rogoff, Marla Toscano, Tanya Rosado-Barringer, Eva and Ray, Susan Cohn, Tanja Pajevic, Terri-Lynne De Fino, Margaret Reyes Dempsey, Karen Noé, Nancy Viera, Lyssa Black Fassett, Diane Dettmann, Autumn-Toelle Jackson, Liz Petrone, and Judy Croome.
INTRODUCTION
remembering you
in the silence of the night
waiting for a sign
By the time you reach my age, you’ve most likely had to deal with death and dying on more than one occasion. Many of my close friends have lost their spouses. Some have remarried, others found companions; still others, struggle on their own.

I am fortunate. Although Joseph left this world more than three years ago, he visits me, and we spend time together. It’s an unusual arrangement, I grant you, but it suits me just fine. In fact, I’d have it no other way. Joseph’s love blankets me with the warmth and comfort he provided throughout our thirty-eight years together.
When my longtime friend Lillian’s husband, Henry, died, she said, “It’s so sad, Benita. I had a life. My child is grown now; he’s married and has children of his own. They live far away. I’m so alone without Henry. You’re my only friend.”
A teacher friend, Sylvia, had been married for close to fifty years when her husband died. Within a year, she had a companion, someone both she and her husband knew and socialized with.
She said, “Benita, I’m sorry but I just can’t wrap my head around what you’re saying. You’re my friend, and I should be able to support you; but although I tried, I can’t read any of your books.”
I ran into Julie on the street, a neighborhood friend, whose husband had passed just two months earlier. Tears welled in her eyes as she spoke about her loss. Trying to console her, I said, “It’s possible Sal will visit to let you know that everything is OK. Are you prepared for that?”
Her face distorted, her tearful eyes widened and nearly fell out of her head. She looked at me as though I were from a different planet.
“What are you saying?”
When I explained, she succinctly waved me off saying, “I don’t believe in any of that.”
A neighbor in my building who lost her husband a couple of years before Joseph passed, said, “I wouldn’t read your books if you gave them to me. They couldn’t be true. I’d much rather read a mystery.”
Everyone’s entitled to his or her beliefs, and if they serve well and nourish the soul, I’m all for it. We need to believe, have faith, and trust in something.
Before Joseph visited me from the Other Side, I wasn’t at all sure there was an afterlife. My belief arose from firsthand experience. “Seeing is believing.” The visions I experienced piqued my interest; I wanted to know more and devoured as much as I could get my hands on. In light of my experiences and the knowledge I obtained by voracious reading, I can honestly say I believe there is an afterlife, a spirit world, and our souls are eternal. We reincarnate, and most of us have lived before. Many times.
I try to assure people that after we leave the body that no longer serves us, our spirit lives on. I don’t force my beliefs on anyone. Those who believed in the afterlife before I had visions and dreams from the Other Side, continue to believe. Those who didn’t, may never believe unless they are open enough to have a spiritual experience. For those who are undecided, my books may be a contributing factor to believing. If believing helps even one person to get