Every day we feature the beloved “Strawberry Letter” franchise that is so popular on “The Steve Harvey Morning Show,” heard nationwide. Send in your letters and Shirley Strawberry will dish out the necessary advice. Today’s topic: Widowed and horny Good Morning, I’m a 44-year-old female who was married for 30 years. Now I’m a widow of six months. Prior to my husband’s death were not sexually intimate for two years. I’m not going out and meeting people because my children, who are all over 21, are giving me a hard time. They think that I’m bitching around and disrespecting their father. The issue is with one daughter who lives at my house. She calls her siblings and talks about me like I’m a dog. She tells the others that I’m in bars getting drunk, stoned and grinning on men. In one occasion she showed up and tried to call me out. When that didn’t work he called her daughter. My other daughter showed up and was upset because I wasn’t grinning and I wasn’t even drunk. My daughter goes into my phone to checks my calls and when the phone ring she’ll comment — “There goes one of your boos. How many is that?” She will also use my grandson to stop me from going out. She’ll come at me for explanations for why I’m home late. She is out of control and makes up stories because she tells me I’m not acting like a widow. I’m always working late hours because I don’t want to come to my own house. Our Latin culture and family values say a woman has to wait a year before dating. But I think I have waited long enough. Two years prior without it and six months is long enough. I need some. Am I wrong to live my life and move on so quickly. Or should I just buy extra batteries and live lonely, sad, horny and depressed for another year? Should I show respect to the family by waiting a year before I date or should I just live and say, ‘To hell with the world!’? Is it true for all cultures that you have to wait a year before becoming intimate? Damn, I’m not looking for love, I’m just looking for someone to make love to me.
- “Strawberry Letters” are letters sent from fans of the “Steve Harvey Morning Show” and therefore do not express the sentiments of ESSENCE Magazine or ESSENCE.com. As these are fan letters, we have left them as close to their original form as possible.