In this episode of the Solo Dad Podcast, Matt sits down with Suzie Schumaker for a deeply honest Solo Mom conversation about love, loss, faith, caregiving, and raising kids after the death of a spouse.

Suzie shares the story of meeting her husband Eric as kids in their Orthodox church community, building a life together, grieving the loss of their first daughter, and later facing Eric’s cancer diagnosis during the isolation and restrictions of COVID. Their story is filled with devotion, humor, faith, hard decisions, and the kind of grit widowed parents often discover only after life gives them no other choice.

This conversation touches on what it means to move forward with grief, not move on from love. Suzie talks about “living in the encore,” helping her daughters process loss through therapy and community, making a major move after Eric’s death, and learning to believe: “I was built for this moment.”

Through the CLIMB lens, this episode lives in Courage, Integration, Movement, and Building—finding the strength to keep going, carrying love forward, making the next right decision, and creating a life where grief and living can both exist.

For widowed parents, solo moms, solo dads, and anyone navigating life after loss, this episode is a reminder: survival counts, your kids need your example, and you are enough.

Ready for more than just listening? Explore the CLIMB framework and support options at https://solodad.life/

This episode of the Solo Dad Podcast is a deeply honest Solo Mom conversation with Alicia, whose story moves through love, marriage, parenting, mental illness, separation, suicide loss, and the reality of raising grieving children after trauma.

Alicia shares what it was like to love a man whose laugh filled the room, while also slowly watching mental illness change the life they were building. She talks about the impossible choices that came with trying to protect her children, the guilt of needing boundaries, the fear of not knowing what would happen next, and the grief that followed after Daniel died by suicide.

This conversation does not offer easy answers because this kind of grief does not come with easy answers. Instead, it offers something more honest: the reality of surviving the unthinkable one decision at a time.

Matt and Alicia also talk about how children grieve differently than adults, why clear language matters when talking to kids about death, the importance of therapy and support, and why “finding the helpers” can become a lifeline when solo parenting feels impossible.

Content note: This episode includes discussion of mental illness, suicidal ideation, firearms, police response, divorce, child grief, and death by suicide.

For more resources, community, and support, visit solodad.life.

Ready for more than just listening? Explore the CLIMB framework and support options at https://solodad.life/

In this deeply moving conversation, Danny Leslie joins Matt to talk about love, loss, solo parenting, and the ways grief changes shape over time.

Danny reflects on the long road of Raf’s cancer, the heartbreak of becoming the one who had to carry impossible news, and what it has looked like to raise their daughters while keeping her presence alive in everyday family rhythm. He shares how writing, walking with a weighted vest, and choosing to “participate with grief” helped him move from hiding in pain to carrying it in a more honest way.

This episode also explores Danny’s book, Thank You, Cancer, a project that brings Raf’s own words into the story so her voice still speaks. Along the way, Matt and Danny talk about anticipatory grief, movement as healing, parenting kids through loss without pretending, and the strange but real shift when grief’s color begins to change.

Danny's Book Is Here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/thank-you-cancer-a-story-of-love-loss-hope-danny-lesslie/5c56725a213acdc6?ean=9798895140369&next=t&aid=120456&listref=guests-of-the-podcast-solo-dad-life

This is a conversation about brutal loss, fierce love, and the quiet ways healing begins — not by getting over someone, but by learning how to carry them with you.

Ready for more than just listening? Explore the CLIMB framework and support options at https://solodad.life/

In this episode of the Solo Dad Podcast, Dustin Morrow shares the story of how he and Mallie met, built a life together fast, welcomed their son Tristan, and then had everything change when back pain turned into a devastating cancer diagnosis. What followed was a two-year caregiving journey filled with hospital visits, hard conversations, hospice, and the helpless reality of loving someone through something you cannot fix. 

Dustin talks openly about being both caregiver and dad, what it was like watching Tristan grieve at such a young age, and how faith, support from other solo dads, and unexpected kindness from neighbors helped carry him through the darkest days. He also shares one of the most powerful lessons Mallie taught him: intimacy is not just physical — it is presence, mind, and soul. 

This conversation is raw, loving, heartbreaking, and deeply human. It is for widowers, solo parents, caregivers, and anyone trying to understand what grief looks like when love is still very much alive. 

Ready for more than just listening? Explore the CLIMB framework and support options at https://solodad.life/

Jason opens up about losing his wife Heather unexpectedly, raising a daughter through grief, and the heavy guilt he carried in the years that followed. He shares what helped him heal, including therapy, hard-earned honesty, and learning to put down the things that were numbing the pain instead of helping him face it. The conversation also moves into something many widowed parents wrestle with but don’t always talk about openly: dating again, loving again, and blending a family while still honoring the spouse who died. This is a raw, grounded episode about healing, health, parenting, and what it means to keep living when life did not go the way you planned.

Ready for more than just listening? Explore the CLIMB framework and support options at https://solodad.life/

What happens when grief doesn’t just visit once—when it repeats? In this conversation, Michael Chapman and Matt talk through the kind of loss that changes your nervous system: sitting in a hospital room watching “a repeat of history,” the exhaustion that makes reality blur, and the moment a nurse gives permission to step away—because sometimes that’s when it happens. 

They get into the parts people rarely say out loud: the numbness that shows up as a survival skill, the impossible job of telling your kids their mom is gone, and the ongoing tug-of-war between holding it together and actually feeling it. Michael shares how writing became a way to carry the story—how a Facebook “vent” turned into a book, and why finishing it felt like setting down a heavy weight.

Book available here: https://www.amazon.com/Two-Days-Calendar-Life-Lessons/dp/B0DK6DFT5D

Ready for more than just listening? Explore the CLIMB framework and support options at https://solodad.life/

In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, Michael Chapman—an author and twice-widowed dad—shares what it’s like to love, lose, and keep showing up. From walking through terminal cancer to the shock of the silence after, Michael opens up about grief waves, “two dates on the calendar,” and the moment he realized moving forward isn’t forgetting—it’s surviving.

Book Available here:

https://www.amazon.com/Two-Days-Calendar-Life-Lessons/dp/B0DK6DFT5D

Ready for more than just listening? Explore the CLIMB framework and support options at https://solodad.life/

Ready for more than just listening? Explore the CLIMB framework and support options at https://solodad.life/

Ready for more than just listening? Explore the CLIMB framework and support options at https://solodad.life/

Ready for more than just listening? Explore the CLIMB framework and support options at https://solodad.life/