My New Routine Surviving the Death of My Spouse A to Z

When Dr. Agustus Alexander Beck saw his mother-in-law’s name pop up on his Caller ID late one September afternoon, he knew something was wrong. Although his wife’s mother, Barbara, was a stellar woman whom he dearly loved, she absolutely never called Beck. She never had a reason to…until that day. What Beck heard when he answered the phone changed his life, his existence, and his “routine” forever. His world turned upside down; he dropped his cell phone, crumbled to the floor, and cried out in pain. His mother-in-law had called to inform him that his wife, Catherine, was dead. My New Routine is Beck’s story of how he picked up the pieces and tried to move on with his life after his wife passed away. Highly emotional, heart-wrenching, and compelling to read, it explores the grave depression he experienced as he desperately tried to stay afloat amid the despair left in her absence. Using writing both as a personal healing method and as a way of stretching his hand out to others who have lost a loved one, Beck delivers a beacon of hope that sheds light on his otherwise dark tale. In the days since his wife’s funeral, he has strived to reclaim sense and order in his life, and has taken on a new routine that allows him to confront his daily life without his number one ally, his best friend, his true love by his side. Sure to touch the heart of anyone who has ever lost someone they loved, My New Routine encourages readers not to just focus on what they lost but instead to celebrate a life shared together as part of the mourning process, and to use their sadness not to underline their emptiness but to remind them of the happiness they once felt.

I am one of those lucky people who, if only for a moment, had it all. For eighteen wonderful years, I had the pleasure of knowing an incredible woman named Catherine, whom I lived with for eleven years and was husband to for seven years. We enjoyed all of life's experiences together and proudly parented two beautiful children, Declan and Violet, who I will spend the rest of my life loving. My world was turned upside down when Catherine died in September of 2012. I'm a cardiologist whose life had always been dictated by order and rules, but that was torn to pieces when I lost my wife. In an effort to bring some type of sense and structure back into my life, and to engage in the process of self-healing, I began to record my observations, experiences, and insights. The whole of my writings is presented in my debut book, My New Routine, an autobiographical account of my life before and after my wife's passing, which I hope will help others survive similar tragedies in their own lives.