When we loose a love one - we do have their memories embedded in our heart.  We never forget the times, moments and conversations we shared with them. 

When our loved ones die, we mourn. And we may ask: ‘What has happened to them? Are they suffering? Are they watching over us? Can we help them? Will we ever see them again?’ However, God tell us what we can expect when we die.  The comfort I gain when loosing a love one has always stem from what is written in the Bible (2 Timothy…

Yesterday at work a Co-Manager asked how I was doing and I told him that having hard time with finances. Especially rent. He commented of getting a new roommate. I went to say I had things of his (my partner's). He asked if he had family that would take his things. I said no. After he left my body almost shut down, I just wanted to cry. But then I gianed composure again. One of my co-workers asked me what was wrong. I told her she said that was insensitive of him. I think Management needs…

Almost 7 months since I lost my husband Keith. I think I cry more now than I did in the weeks after his death. It doesn't take much to set me off (a song,a smell,a memory.) I am trying to keep it together for our children & his mother. But all I really want to do is lock myself in a room, assume the fetal position & cry until I can't cry anymore. But I can't. Must function, must pretend I have it all under control, when inside I feel I am slowly & painfully dying from missing…

Obit writing has become so full of personal detail and anecdotal material that many of them now have at least a few lines that resonate with an image or words you might read at breakfast and find yourself repeating at lunch or around the water cooler at work.



As an avid obit reader (and writer) I like to save these gems to savor and share. Here are some that have recently crossed my radar screen. Each of them, to my eye, paints a small but telling piece of a life – some of…

It’s not unusual. You have a vacation booked, a work commitment, or family plans, and then someone dies. The funeral or memorial service is scheduled and you are unable to attend. What do you do when a loved one, friend, or colleague dies and you can’t change your plans? Will the family be hurt by your absence? Do you contact the family ahead of time to explain? Or, do you miss the funeral rituals and not mention it at all?



There are times when it is absolutely unavoidable…

Three months ago today - I lost my beautiful Mom.  Cancer took her...  I am mostly 'okay' but I miss her each and every day...

I was with her at the end... and I AM GRATEFUL!  FOR HER LOVE AND THE BLESSINGS THAT CONTINUE TO SURROUND ME AND MY Family...

Life without her is and always will be different... but I am going forward, even when it's hard... but that's just me...

Since her death - I have learned so much.... about myself, and LIFE!  I have lived in the moment...…

happy birthday mama you'd be 52 today! love you

I made a card for Dad just before they found the cancer, because I wanted him to know how I felt.  I am so glad I did....before he passed....... no special occassion.  If any of you haven't told your loved ones how you feel, please don't wait any longer.  This is what I wrote in the card:

     During the years I was growing up, I didn't see or realize that you were the parent that raised me, gave me high standards and moral values that will last my life time.

     I can not…

I never knew what it was like to have to respond to someone who lost a loved one to suicide. After my sister died though, I found myself thrust into a life I didn’t plan or want. And as nearly twenty years have passed, I find myself asked how to respond to someone who has just learned of a suicide loss. This comes most often through Facebook from high school friends who have learned of my work. I am grateful that I can share with people how to help because there is nothing worse…

Grief is a funny thing. Our mind tells us one thing, but our heart tells a different story. Healing from grief is a process of getting both of them in agreement. We know that our loved one has died, we attended their funeral and ate the casseroles our friends brought over. Yet our heart still expects to see them sitting in their chair when we walk in the door or to hear their voice when the phone rings. We think we see them out of the corner of our eye when we are out in a crowd.…

I have had a variety of feeling in the last few days. I believe I have had every emotion one could have all in one day.  I happen to be driving down the road when I passed my husbands old pick up that he had when we first met. I haven't seen that truck in months, when my husband and I would see it before he passed away we used to laugh and say there it goes. It will probably out live all of us. Little did we know we were right. The flood of tears were so intense I had to pull over. The…

Read for free two days only on Amazon.  September 20 and September 21, 2012.  "The Grief to Gratitude Blueprint... What to Do When Death Occurs."

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0098B86XU

 …

I think to be truthful, the reason one's social life as a widow of a suicide victim is that no one knows what or how to treat you after the suicide.  Best meaning friends withdraw, you're alone.  All alone.  The person you shared life with, had children, grandchildren with is gone.  Nobody to share those memories with the same as the one you created the memories with.  My husband completed his 5th suicide attempt (obviously successfuly) in March of 2011.  We would have been married 33 years.…

Q. Is it okay to tell a funny story in a eulogy? I would like to do so at my cousin’s funeral, but I wonder whether people might be offended. What do you think? Are there rules to follow?



A funeral is no time for stand-up comedy. But humor leavened with compassion does have a place on this occasion. The goal is not to entertain, but to share meaning and capture the person your cousin was—in a way likely to elicit chuckles or wistful smiles from those assembled…

In the weeks and months that follow a death, when real grieving takes place, many bereaved report that they feel all alone. The calls and visits have stopped and the friends that gathered around them in the days following the death are nowhere in sight. It’s very common for the bereaved to feel as if their friends have abandoned them when they need them most.



So what can you do if you have lost a loved one and feel utterly disappointed in your friends?



The sad…

Dearest Amy,

Well, here it is midnight, 5 days after you had your accident, 9/18/2012 about 2 hrs away from the same time we got a call from ICU that you had taken a turn for the worse. We called family and we all showed up to see you for the last time where at least you looked alive. You had tubes all over, machines running keeping things going because you had brain damage that would never get better or you would never recover. As we were to make a decision no parent would ever want…

This weekend has been more difficult than I expected. It has been 3 months since my husband passed away today! Yesterday was one of my grand daughters birthday. She turned 5. It was the first birthday party without my husband. The surprised tears in the middle of the party caught me so off guard so once they started I couldn't stop them. I stepped out side to gather my thoughts and some complete stranger walked by and made the comment. Wow, why you so sad, nothing that is going on in your…

FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND... SIDE BY SIDE BY GLORIA FAYE BROWN BATES/ aka GRANNY GEE Footprints in the sand... side by side running this way, that way.. later to be washed away by the tide A little boy, a big guy ran playing with exhilarating joy Squealing, laughing... this big guy with his little boy Put your toes in the water, let the waves wash over them I'm afraid, the little boy said... I'll protect you, the big guy told him That's what daddys are for... to protect and love Taban, I don't…

It was my sisters 2 month death anniversary on the 12th..still hard to believe its been that long. I had a 22 balloon release on the 6th of this month in her memory and it was so crazy- all of the balloons flew away all together in a bunch..i have never seen such a thing. Im planning on having one every month idk why but i want to and feel like i need to. We all made shirts and my 4 year old was just too sweet he looked up after we had released the balloons and sadly waived into the sky..it…