Weeks and months after the funeral of a loved one, the rest of the world seems to be back to their normal lives, yet one who is in deep grief usually is not ready to return to normalcy. Something that weighed heavily on my mind is that I didn't want others to forget about our daughter Lisa. She touched the lives of so many others, helping them, guiding them, making them laugh. Maybe not to the same degree as my husband, older daughter and I, but I want to believe that extended family and her close friends also remember her fondly.
But what about those who knew her casually, those who went to grade school, middle school and high school? Those who she danced with, worked with during summer jobs? Do they ever think about her?
The bottom line is, I don't want the world to forget Lisa. I want her life to have mattered and for those who she connected with, to remember her.
I attended a funeral for my husband's uncle yesterday. As I sat quietly before the service, my mind wandered to Lisa and her funeral. Then as I looked around, I saw others who I knew had lost a loved one at one time or another. Were they thinking about their loved one and remembering them just like I was doing with Lisa? I'm guessing that it's highly likely that they were. So I made a mental note to talk with others about their loved one who has died. Let them know that I have not forgotten about their loss. While a death is so often a sad circumstance, when a person reaches out with a compassionate conversation that helps a person to survive it.
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