A little behind the scenes and real life living with grief!

Tomorrow, 11/19/25, will be four months since my loving husband was promoted to heaven. 🕊️ So long, yet so short.

Before I tell you more about this picture, I want to share something personal: grief is NOT “one size fits all.” When we lose someone who was an incredible husband, son, dad, popo, brother, uncle, cousin, co-worker…friend — the realization that their absence is permanent is overwhelming in ways you can’t prepare for.

Grief is hard. No matter what book you read, what scripture comforts you, or what inspirational message you hear… it’s still hard. Big time. But life moves on. It’s natural. No matter what we do, we have to continue walking the path in front of us, and with God’s help, we keep moving forward.

Thank you to everyone who continues to pray for my family, check in on us, and offer a smile, a hug, or a kind word. Your support means more than you know.

Now onto this picture.

This is my real life behind the scenes — no makeup, no filter, no fancy setup.
I’m preparing to film projects for an upcoming YouTube collab with my friend Linda of Linda’s DIY by Design, and I pulled out these cardboard tubes to recycle them into some cute décor.

I usually craft in my upstairs craft room, but after injuring my knee I moved things downstairs for a while. Behind me is the beautiful cabinet my sweet husband custom-built for me. It’s 8' tall — and with our 10' ceilings, he fixed me up good with decorative trim and all. It breaks my heart, but it brings me so much joy at the same time… if that makes sense.

I know my husband, Ricky, is with me always — watching over me as I create and continue doing what I love. He didn’t always understand (or care 😆), but he loved me deeply and supported my dream of crafting full-time. Many years of blood, sweat, tears, and “robbing Peter to pay Paul” went into living this dream, and he stood by me through all of it.

He was so talented at woodworking and always dreamed of exploring it more during retirement… but God had other plans.

If you’ve read this far — any guesses on what I’m making with these cardboard tubes? 😉
Tune in on the Saturday after Thanksgiving to see if you guessed right! ❤️

You can find my channel here: www.youtube.com/@countrycharmbytracy