Few events in life are as painful as the death of a spouse. A new book, “Climbing Out: An Adventure in Rediscovering Life after Loss,” is a true story about a Canadice woman’s journey to cope with the sudden death of her husband.
Good friends Robin L. Flanigan and Bonnie Thies love a good hike. There’s something about the trails and scenery along the way that they know are good for your mood and your mind. Something Thies sure needed in a big way after the tragic death of her husband Bill in 2005.
“He was cutting down a tree on our property and a branch came down and killed him,” said Bonnie Thies of Canadice. “I am the one who found him in the woods.”
The first thing Thies says she did was weep and pray. Later, she got right back out there doing what she and her late husband loved. She decided to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. While training for the hike, she met Robin. The two became friends and started a hiking group.
“We like to call our group ‘JOI’, Journeys of Inspiration,” said Thies.
The group hikes weekly.
“There’s no question it gives you peace,” said Thies.
Thies and Flanigan successfully climbed to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro. It was a cancer climb that raised a quarter of a million dollars for cancer victims, survivors and their families. Thies is a three-time cancer survivor. The hike got Flanigan, a writer and author thinking about writing a book about the journey and all that Thies had been through. Fast forward 15 years later and together they wrote “Climbing Out: an Adventure in Rediscovering Life After Loss.”
“I think we can help each other by sharing our struggles and if I can be a conduit for what Bonnie had been through,” Flanigan said. “She was such an example of grief, faith and perseverance and resilience. I thought other people need to know her as well as I did.”
Thies says her story is not a how-to book, but it’s about hope and love and how we choose to get there and all the ups and downs and in in-betweens. Everybody grieves differently.
“One of the best pieces of advice I ever learned from my father is to listen to your instincts and certainly I did that all the way through,” Thies said. “All the way through.”
Thies not only climbed the mountain, she found love again. You can read all about it in the book. “Climbing Out” is available on Amazon.
