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Location: New York CityNationality: AmericanBiography: Susan Rosenberg Jones was named a 2017 Critical Mass Top 50 Photographer for her series Second Time Around. She resides in New York City.
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Focus: Photographer, Fine Art, Documentary, Photography, Domestic, Portraiture, Lifestyle, Events, Culture
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
Eddie: "In the beginning, the dreams were vivid. I remember one particular dream where I woke up and saw her silhouette coming at me, kind of a white energy, if you will, but I saw a silhouette. I didn't see her face, but I knew it was she and I saw her coming at me as I sat up and it was frightening. Frightening at first and then as it engulfed me, I felt a sense of calm and so to this day I associate her love and her protection in that moment of being engulfed in her silhouette".
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Danielle: “Grief counseling. Whenever I would feel lost, I would give them a call. That really helped a lot.” “I just think everybody deals with it differently. A lot of people have opinions on how you handle it.”
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
Ronnye: “So he had his interests. And I had mine. We had our interests together. So I had a life apart from him. Not exclusively apart from him but I had a life. And I think that was important. It is important.”
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
Darrell: "We had a cocktail hour every Saturday evening after Roger came home from church and before going out to dinner. It usually included wine or champagne, cheese, some fruit, nuts, and crackers. We would have some unobtrusive music on. This would be our time, every week, to really talk to each other. About life, our shared or personal histories or any plans we had for the future."
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Ronnye: "He came to pick me up for our first date, it was a blind date. And he was wearing the toupee and a polyester suit. Oh, I said ‘No, like no.’”
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
Jane: “We each had our own interests but we were together a lot. I retired early so we could travel. And I only spent one night away from him in that 30 years.”
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
Jane: “After he died I joined a bereavement support group which was a really good thing to do. The social worker who led it said 2 very important things that I found helpful: ‘Keep busy. And time will make things better.’ There’s a lot of pain and it’s almost like a physical pain.”
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
Jane: “I’ve read that when older people lose their partners then you don’t get touched. To be without touch is a terrible thing. It’s like up there with food and shelter. And that’s why it’s good to get out there and meet people and yes, have companionship. I think people sort of go back to their usual state before a spouse died. I mean if you’ve been a person with a sense of humor you will go back to having a sense of humor- you retain your basic self.”
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
Diana: "I was never a therapy person, never, never had a therapist growing up, adulthood, until I realized that I couldn't handle the grief, not because it was grief, but because it came to me when I didn't expect it and oftentimes not conveniently. So,the grief is not the problem at all. I mean I want to feel the grief because it's the only place where I can visit him, where he exists now. There's such a sense of relief when it interrupts your day, when you're in the middle of business or when you're in the middle of Barnes and Noble shopping and then you'll hear a song...and I realize that maybe I need to have it more often and not on the rare random moments where I'm doing my thing and and it hits. Maybe I should be more aware of it as this living breathing organism and incorporate it into my life more."
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
Diana:"Part of taking care of yourself is taking care of your kids because it's all the same. That's what I say. And my therapist or a friend will say, what have you done for you? And I say, you're only as happy as your most miserable child. The best thing of all is these two kids and when they have suffered trauma,you are that much more fierce about your happiness being in large part about their being able to adjust and cope and function with the grief and sadness in their lives, and to also learn that they can experience joy and pleasure."
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
Sue: "When we retired, we bought a motor home and if you can live with somebody 24 hours in a little motor home and sleep above the steering wheel, then you have to have a good marriage."
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
Sue:"I was a member of the “Y” in which I still am. And when I came in after sitting shiva, everybody said, just keep on going, keep on going. And if anybody asks you to go out, go even if you don't like them, go, just get out. And that's what I did."
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
Sue:"I went to a bereavement group at the “Y” and I said the problem that I had was that I had no women friends. We were all couples. And so one of the yentas said to me, ‘when you stop playing bridge with all the men you’ll have women friends’. So I started to play Mah- Jongg."
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
Dennis:"She died the second month of this year, February. I'm seeing a lot of people from all walks of my life. I'm getting together for lunches, dinners, hanging out with people and I'm also seeing my therapist twice a week. So I guess I'm taking care of myself the best I can. I'm scared because, you know, I'm 72. Judy and I found love relatively late in life and I thought we would grow old together, I really feel lost,really feel like the wind kicked out of me and I feel like half a person. So every day is different. Some days. are more weepy than others.I'm not sure what brings it on. I don't like being home by myself in the mornings, and the nights are very hard. I wake up with a lot of anxiety in my chest."
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
Judy:"Wow. It's kind of romantic. I loved it. It was kind of a wild story. It was like God put his hand in and said,'here are two people who might enjoy each other's company'. And indeed we did. We were best friends, we were lovers, we were adventurers together. He was just my favorite person in the whole world. We shared so much. We each had a lot of interests, some of which we shared, some of which we didn't share, some of which we taught each other to share."
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
Judy:"I feel his presence very strongly sometimes and I mean I've never tried to pin down what it is that triggers that. I know sometimes I get into bed at night and I know there's something I can discuss with him and then it sort of hits me - 'well no. you can't'. Um, it's very jarring. And his presence is very real. Sometimes, I'll be in the bedroom or I'll be here in the living room and I know he's in the other room. I just know he's in the other room."
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
Santiago: "It's been two years. I think about her all the time. When I see my sons, my daughter - I see my wife in them. She was the best woman for me in the world - a beautiful person".
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
Paula T: "I remember once my dad died, I looked through the big picture window that looks into the living room and I saw my mother in there just walking aimlessly, like she didn't know what to do and that picture really didn't resonate with me until I went through it. And I know exactly what she was doing. She was lost.I think the biggest gift that comes out of a horrible event like this is empathy, developing empathy. I think I will never miss a ceremony of a friend or a friend’s loved one. I think it's so important to be there. I want to be like the people who were in my life who helped me."
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
Barbara: "Friends were in touch and some people wanted to come by right away and bring things. And actually I wanted to be quiet and alone. Didn't want a circus. I never wanted a lot of people around. My daughter pointed it out because she came after and she said, ‘it's so quiet here’. And I stopped listening to everything. The news, music - I always had music going - and I didn't listen to music for at least a year, not deliberately".
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
Barbara:"I just wanted to be with myself and I think that was kind of alarming, and actually it was very instructive because now when I turn on music, it's very deliberate. Today I want to hear Beethoven, tomorrow, I want to hear Motown or ragas, because I have a very broad interest in music, but it's not just background. It is very much part of where I am at that moment. And that happened at that time, which I thought was kind of interesting. It happened quite naturally. I didn't think about it."
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Lori: "I was looking for comforting books and trying to reconcile God's role in the whole thing. And how can bad things happen to good people. And why is there so much suffering in the world and all those age - old questions. And then afterwards I got really caught up in the girls and I started doing a lot of reading about that. I remember I have this book called Fatherless Daughters - I just really wanted to know how could I help them, and there was almost nothing on it".
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Lori:"I wish I had gotten in support groups, before he passed away, before and after, you know. Well, I did after, but I mean right away. I tried to carry too much on my own shoulders and now I would recommend to people to ask for help. Ask for specific things and don't be afraid to ask people to do things for you. But people want to help and I didn't realize - I felt like I was being too needy. I would really recommend to people to put that aside and, reach out to people".
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Rami: "We did a renewal of the vows when she was already very sick. I surprised her. We had friends over for a barbecue when she was already pretty ill and I said, okay, we're now going to do a renewal of our vows. I had a friend act as the rabbi, so to speak, and read something that I had prepared. It made her feel really good. So if you could do something like that for your spouse, it can make them feel very special".
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
Edward: "Neil was sick for a long time. I'm glad he died before me. He couldn't have managed on his own.Now, I don't know what to do with myself a lot of the time. I mean, there's lots I have to do. I haven't really been able to settle down to writing for about five years because things got very heavy. I'm now starting to think about that. It's coming to me that it would be a very good thing to do, to write about the story of our relationship".
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Edward:"It's like everything about romantic love was out the window. It had nothing to do with that. I understand seeing eye dogs with their masters and mistresses, how devoted they are. And how concerned, and how they have to watch every second and I understand it completely. It was truly…we had a wonderful life together. I said, to the doctor ‘Well, maybe we'll go to Europe’. And she said, ‘go, go’! And of course she meant it was temporary...and so we went. That was wonderful. It was like an oasis in the middle of the desert. And then it was downhill from there".
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
Edward:"There are things that keep you alive and in the world. Because you are naturally suicidal when you feel this way. But it's not my nature, I don’t think. Sexual pleasure, it keeps me alive. I mean, I can deal with that myself. That's not hard to do. The sexuality is working and that's a very important part of my life. I feel it's one of the main things that keeps me alive now. It’s like a food for the soul".
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
John: "I have always been seen as a strong person, but never thought I would ever need therapy until it got it. You know, with a black family, therapy is not high on the list of priorities, but a black family needs therapy as much as anybody else.
I have a friend from college whose wife also passed away, so I was trying to get advice. How do you handle this? But then I realize, people can tell you how they handle it. You have to figure it out".
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
John: "I guess I've never been alone because I have friends and family, but I'm lonely a lot, a lot. We talked about everything and I definitely feel a piece of me is gone. I can't talk to her and I don't really have anybody to talk to like that".
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Melissa: "The quality of the short life that George had was really good. And that was important. You don't know it at the time. You don't know he's going to die young.
Once he died I started to say like, 'Where is he? What is this? What is this all about'? And the advice I was given is friends, family and your faith - those three things get you through it. So I started to go to church. I've become very good friends now with one of my priests. We go to dinner. We golf. It's like going to a therapist".
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Melissa:"I went back to work about two weeks after the funeral. It's a very strange feeling to go back. People look at you. They don't know what to say to you. I guess for some people it's easier to ignore it and just ignore you than to confront you and say, 'How are you doing'?
I think living on my own was one of the hardest things that I've had to deal with. Just figuring out how do I feed myself because there were always two of us, you know, and when you go from two to one, sometimes I don't eat - sometimes it's like two or three days, and I'm like, 'Did I eat'?"
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Edith: "Every Friday I have breakfast food for dinner because it was a Friday that he died and I made him brunch. I made this brunch and that's when he asked me, you know, you usually do Sunday brunch, why Friday, you know something I don't know? I said, no, I just figured that we should do this. He said I don’t know- you’re up to something. I said no… and so now every Friday I'm alone, and I have breakfast food on a Friday."
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Debi: "In the Buddhist system, it's very ritualized mourning. This Lama was so kind.He urged me to call him every week. He would just listen, he would say a few things and we did all the rituals. ‘For the first week you keep a light on in his room and after that week you can turn the light off at night and for 49 days you say these prayers’. That really helped.
And that’s what we were doing at home. At the community center all the members would come and they would do the same prayer with me. We did it for 49 days. And it was hard because in the prayer you have to say goodbye."
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Debi:"I really miss talking to him. It's not that we talked all the time. He was a very reserved and quiet person, but he'd be sitting there watching TV with the headphones on. I'd be reading and I would read something that I wanted to share with him, andI still find myself doing that, saying, ‘Oh, look at this. So and so says he's changed his mind about this and that’. And then of course, there's no one to talk to."
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© 2018 Susan Rosenberg Jones
Harriet: “I was very fortunate in the way I took his death. When you read a book you finish the book, you close the book. That doesn't mean you don't read another book.”
“I kind of felt I was always Max’s wife. He was the star of our show. I was my mother's very devoted daughter. So I was a wife, I was a mother, I was a grandmother…I want to be me! And that's what I did.”
“To me, it’s more gratifying to be loved than to love.”
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Paula GR:"I have to be home because I keep saying I think he's lost and I have to be here in case he comes back. I want him to find me here. I have no desire to travel.
There are so many people who haven’t known love in their life and it's those people I feel so sorry for. It’s why I can't be greedy. I keep feeling I can't be greedy because I had him for 25 years."
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Paula GR: "It was a miracle when Ray and his son came into my life. I am so grateful I had that time with him. He saved my life and he brought music back into my life and that's what's saving me now."
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Paula GR:"I'm still so lonely for him. He was my best friend and I was his best friend and he was my mentor and I was his mentor.
I had been wishing to dream, and last week for the first time, I dreamt he was holding me."