"We have to remember our loved one is gone, and that's horrible. But we're still here, and we still have work to do. We still have purpose, we still have value, and that's to love our lives and help others love their lives as well." —Dianne Brazell

Creativity became Dianne Brazell's lifeline after losing her husband, Paul, just five months after their wedding. In this episode of Live, Love, Survive, Thrive, Dr. Kimberly Hubenette sits down with author and educator Dianne Brazell, who went from bride to widow in the span of a terminal cancer diagnosis — and found her way through grief by writing letters to a man she wasn't ready to let go.
Dianne shares three things that shaped her healing: writing as emotional release (including a chapter on anger she almost cut from her memoir), the unexpected gift of Paul's sisters becoming her closest travel companions, and learning — after a lifetime of fearing it — that she is her own best friend.
Seven years out, Dianne describes her grief as a pain that's dropped from a nine or ten to a one or two most days. It spikes. It surfaces on birthdays and anniversaries. But it no longer defines her.
Her new book, Weaving Peace: Creating Your Next Act, gives grievers practical tools to use photography, movement, music, and writing to rebuild. If you're in the early fog or years deep and still finding your footing, this conversation meets you there.

Connect with Dr. Kimberly:
Website
LinkedIn
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
Pinterest

Episode Highlights:
02:42 Meet Dianne: From Bride to Widow in 5 Months
07:44 Losing Paul
13:47 Early Stages of Grief and Coping Mechanisms
19:52 Coping by Serving Others
26:18 Learning to Love Alone and Balancing Life
32:12 Recipe: Creative Chili

Resources:
Get Kim's Books
📖Grid: Once in a Lifetime You Get to Start Over
📖Live, Love, Survive, Thrive!
Get Dianne's Book:
📖Weaving Peace: A Memoir of My Time with Paul
📖Weaving Peace: Creating Your Next Act
Thank you for listening.
To keep my podcast alive,
Wanna buy my dog Dakota a bone?
☕️https://buymeacoffee.com/livelovesurvivethrive

(Special Episode)
Category: Coping From Grief and Loss

"Life was full of choices. You pick a road, you try not to look back, and you keep going down that road, and that's how life goes." —William Quan, DDS
Eighteen years after losing his wife, Dr. William Quan found love again — and he says there were only three roads anyone walking through grief can take.
In this special episode, Dr. Kimberly Hubenette sits down with her father, Dr. Quan, who lost his first wife nearly two decades ago and has been remarried to a fellow widow for 16 years. He breaks grief down into three concrete paths: live alone and cope solo, remarry and rebuild, or move in with family. He chose remarriage — and credits a chance encounter at a Chinese restaurant, where a fellow widow slipped him her phone number, changing his life.
The conversation also covers something rarely discussed out loud: the signs many widows and widowers report from a departed spouse, from a light bulb that should've been ice-cold but wasn't, to a toddler grandson who swore his late grandmother read him bedtime stories. Father and daughter land on the same truth — you can love more than one person, just in different ways, and grief doesn't mean you stop living.
If you're navigating loss, this episode offers a roadmap, not platitudes.

Connect with Dr. Kimberly:
Website
LinkedIn
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
Pinterest

Episode Highlights:
02:30 A Mindfulness Lesson
06:05 Backstory: Dr. Quan's Widowhood — Losing His First Wife
10:54 Patients Sharing Grief: Conversations Beyond Dentistry
12:41 Dating After Loss )
15:20 The Choice to Keep Living:
17:48 Three Ways to Cope with Spousal Loss
21:18 Memories Persist: Pride in Shared Life
23:00 Pick a Road & Move Forward
27:00 Signs From Beyond
31:30 Feeling Loved Ones' Presence & Unexplained Signs
33:00 What's Your Choice

Resources:
Books
📖Grid: Once in a Lifetime You Get to Start Over by Dr. Kimberly Hubenette
📖Live, Love, Survive, Thrive! by Dr. Kimberly Hubenette
Podcast
Living Through Grief: How to Keep Going After Loss with Dr. William Quan Part 1
Thank you for listening.
To keep my podcast alive,
Wanna buy my dog Dakota a bone?
☕️https://buymeacoffee.com/livelovesurvivethrive

"In my memoir, I talk about planning my suicide, and I had it all planned out, and then things came up, and I did not do that. And so now people tell me, I'm very tenacious, and I try to do it in a joyful manner." —Nancy J. Martin

There are moments in life that test everything—your body, your spirit, your will to keep going. And in those moments, what carries you forward isn't perfection or certainty, but something steadier: a quiet, determined kind of joy.
In this powerful episode, Dr. Kimberly Hubenette sits down with author Nancy J. Martin, who shares her extraordinary journey through a life-altering diagnosis, facial paralysis, abandonment, and the long road of rebuilding a life rooted in resilience, creativity, and connection. Her story doesn't shy away from the hard parts, but it shines a light on what it means to keep choosing life, even when it feels unbearable.
From her darkest thoughts to embracing what she calls "joyful tenacity," Nancy opens up about living with visible difference, finding strength through expression, and creating a life filled with meaning, art, and human connection.
If this story resonates, support the podcast and help keep these conversations going.
Key Topics:
• Choosing joyful tenacity in the face of adversity
• Living with visible difference in a judgmental world
• Finding strength through creativity and self-expression
• Moving from despair toward purpose and connection
• The role of community in building a meaningful life

Connect with Dr. Kimberly:
Website
LinkedIn
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
Pinterest

Episode Highlights:
02:05 Meet Nancy: Widow, Author, Jeweler, Thriver
04:14 The Diagnosis That Changed Everything: Acoustic Neuroma
07:12 A Career in Fashion
09:50 Joyful Tenacity: Surviving Facial Paralysis, Abandonment, and Grief
17:35 How Community Heals
21:32 Facing the World Different: Grief, Public Stares, and Choosing Visibility
29:28 Foodie At Heart

Resources:
Books
📖Grid: Once in a Lifetime You Get to Start Over by Dr. Kimberly Hubenette
📖Live, Love, Survive, Thrive! by Dr. Kimberly Hubenette
📖https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07ZHQ2F12/allbooks?ingress=0&visitId=ed0bc148-5c71-4a84-bc01-a37218bef331
Thank you for listening.
To keep my podcast alive,
Wanna buy my dog Dakota a bone?
☕️https://buymeacoffee.com/livelovesurvivethrive