Daily Email Affirmations by Johnson and Brown Funeral Home Grief Connections Bridges and Memories - Day #191 A friend of mine lost his wife, after a long, long illness. He cared for her every day, and the habit of caring for her was deeply engrained into his being. It was the loss of that connection, that day-to-day caring, which caused him the most pain. For him, the mundane activities of caring for her dying body were the bridge of love between them. After she was gone, he rebuilt the bridge by creating and tending an honor garden, filled with her favorite flowers. “She’s with me, in her garden. I feel her presence very strongly,” he said to me one day. And I believed him. Our society has given us the opportunity to redefine those means of memorializing our loved ones. No more do we automatically turn to the cemetery to grieve; often times, we are left with a box of cremated remains, and the intention to do something with them –without knowing exactly what should be done. So, ask yourself, where do I feel the closeness we shared in life? For my friend, it was in the honor garden he lovingly created for her. A year after her passing, in the spring, he and I staged a memorial service for her – her closest friends and family members each brought a story to share, and a plant for the garden extension he was planning. What a success! So many guests echoed his sentiments that she was with us in the garden that day – and I believed them all; because I felt it too. Quotation for the Day “There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.” - Thornton Wilder
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 00:35:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015