Earlier this year, a close friend of mine passed away. This sweet woman was incredibly unique. Besides adoring vintage clothing, she always had extremely short hair. After her death, her son wanted to plan a funeral service with her unique style in mind. So, he immediately started working with the helpful staff at a respected funeral home in our hometown. After relaying his desires to the professional employees at the funeral home, my friend’s son decided to omit a viewing on the night before the funeral. Instead, he had the funeral home staff bring his mother’s body to the church two hours before the funeral service. He also gave anyone who wanted to speak at the funeral service an opportunity. On this blog, I hope you will discover the wonderful ways the staff at a funeral home can help you plan a unique funeral for a loved one.
Although grieving might seem like it should be a top priority when a loved one passes away, you'll commonly find yourself scrambling to make funeral arrangements. Even if your late loved one preplanned his or her funeral and you're getting plenty of help from local funeral homes, the reality is that there will always be lots of things for you to do in the days between the death and the funeral service. When the funeral service finally takes place, you may have a few days of downtime before you attempt to get back to your everyday life. Here are some ways that you can spend this time.
Grieving
Even if you're grieved a bit over the past several days, your busy schedule leading up to the funeral has perhaps gotten in the way of fully sitting with your feelings. Now is the time to allow yourself to grieve fully. Grieving is deeply personal, so there are many different ways to approach it. You might wish to book a session or two with a grief counselor, or you may find that writing in a journal with a box of tissues nearby is helpful. Some people prefer to look through old family photos and cry as a way of grieving the loss.
Spending Time With Family
The busyness of the past several days may have meant that each of your family members was taking care of different funeral-related duties. Once the service is over, this is a time for you and your loved ones to spend time together. This is especially true if you live a considerable distance apart and everyone has been together because of a family member's passing. Soon enough, people will head back home, so taking advantage of the time together, sharing stories of your loved one, and supporting each other can all be cathartic.
Supporting Your Children
If you have children, and especially if they're young, you should endeavor to make time to offer your support to them. It's easy to get so busy planning the funeral and even managing your own grief that your children's feelings end up on the back burner. Children process death in different ways, and while your kids may seem to be dealing with the situation pretty well, they may be struggling inside. Taking some time to talk to them about their feelings and experiences can help to make this a time to heal for them, too.
Share24 January 2018
