Honoring and Remembering Your Departed Loved One

So you've lost your loved one. Whether it was your husband, wife, child, mother, father, friend or pet, your grief is very real, and painful. Losing someone we love can cripple us with grief; some people just stop functioning for a time. The good news is, as time passes, the hurt eases. You begin to forget - your grief, but not your loved one.

You want to remember your loved one, the good times you shared; those memories are yours forever. There are many ways to honor and celebrate your loved one. Here are a few:

You can buy a paving stone with your beloved's name and your comments, or light a virtual candle at stfrancisofassisi.com. You can decorate the candles yourself, to express what is in your heart.

Send an easel of beautiful flowers from SendSympathies at http://www.sendsympathies.com.

Offer an online commemoration at Briefnet at http://www.beliefnet.com.

Or buy a tribute to be written by a professional writer and published in a handsome volume, from Worth Remembering Publishing, at worthrememberingpublishing.com.

You can also honor your loved one through writing. It might be a poem, song, or a narrative. Don't worry whether it's "good" or "bad;" - this is not a contest - write it from your heart. Write about a good day you had with your loved one; what you did that was special and why.
Buy a book that you know your loved one enjoyed, and donate it to the library or a nursing home.

Plant a tree, or a shrub, or a flower bed in honor of your loved one. Plant flowers that they especially enjoyed.

Attach a note or a poem for your loved one to a helium balloon and let it go.

Solicit your relatives, friends of your loved ones or co-workers to contribute mementoes, letters, photos, anything they might have concerning your loved one, and make a scrapbook.

Select a birthday gift your departed one might have given you, and give it to yourself. Every time you wear or use it you will be pleasantly reminded.