Monthly Archives: October 2022

The Grief Journey

First of all, remember that there is no set time frame for when you will return to normal after cremation services Waite Hill, OH. This article aims to highlight the main phases of grief that most people go through before and after losing a loved one.

It’s not written in stone that every person must go through all these phases or they come in the same order. Each person, each death, and each relationship is different – and so does the grief timeline. There’s no way to predict your exact grief journey. However, we can guess the general outline.

Check out what you might expect from a grief journey:

1. Before the Death: Anticipatory Grief

This happens when the loved one was experiencing a terminal illness and you knew all the way that the death was coming. Now the grieving begins.

Anticipatory grief can add a whole new layer to the grieving process and often extends it. The grieving person grieves over time lost, or perhaps a future that will never be. This grieving stage can be just as fierce as the grief after your loved one has passed.

2. Immediately After Death

Shock and anger are the two initial reactions from the grieving person. This can last for hours or days depending on how the loved one has died. The shock will affect everyone differently, from tears to hysterical laughing and often, complete denial.

3. Grief During the Funeral

While arranging for the last services of the loved one, the toughest phase of grief sets in. But it is also a vital part of the healing process. Your life is still far from normal, and your grief is still raw but there’s no escaping it.

Acknowledging the changed reality is the best way forward.

4. Grief After the Funeral

Now, that’s the part that often hits the hardest. Friends and family go home and return to their everyday lives and you need to cope with grief alone.

In addition, the grieving person needs to handle several important tasks related to closing bank accounts, and credit cards, and collecting life insurance and pensions of the deceased. During this time. You need self-reflection too.

Don’t resort to loneliness or locking yourself in the room. Try keeping track of the things you need to get done and slowly start accomplishing that list. With time, you will begin to learn a new normal for yourself. Beginning to adjust to a new lifestyle will help with your grief.

5. Months or Years Later

And life continues to go by, and generally, the grief starts to lessen as you live from day to day. But that’s not the rule. You may often find yourself asking the same why and how questions.

But hopefully, the sharp edges of your grief will soften. The grief will not subside completely but like a shadow that follows you. Not always visible or always felt, but still there. The person finds comfort in the memory of the lost loved one until they completely adapt to the changed reality after cremation services Waite Hill, OH. Contact us today.

Writing a Thoughtful Eulogy

If you have ever been to funeral homes Waite Hill, OH, you’d already know what a eulogy is. It is a speech that celebrates the life of a departed loved one. Giving tribute to the deceased has been a longstanding tradition in the funeral service – and often the central event.

Giving a eulogy is an honor and if you are chosen to pay tribute to the lost loved one, then it needs to be done well. Just follow the below tips to make sure the eulogy is moving, appropriate, and thoughtful.

1. Be Authentic

Try to be as close to the truth as possible. Don’t make it sound like the deceased was the most perfect person ever lived. A good eulogy can admit the person’s faults but will typically emphasize their strengths. Focus on the loved one’s major accomplishments, hobbies, passions, religion, volunteer work, and a brief intro of their spouse and children (if any), hobbies, passions, religion, and volunteer work.

2. Keep It Brief Yet Informative

A long eulogy makes the audience bored. Make sure your eulogy is brief, and poignant, and summarize the individual’s life without going into every detail. It should be approximately 1000 words and take around 6-8 minutes to deliver.

3. Think of a Theme

A professional eulogy revolves around a central theme. It can be anything like a central story, phrase, or quote as a motif. Or maybe you want to highlight a story or phrase that captures several aspects of their life and personality.

4. Think of Their Best Stories but Don’t Go Into Details

The bulk of the eulogy should be centered around narrating the major attributes and important stories of the loved one’s life. You may start with a favorite memory of the story of the deceased you were part of and connect it to one of the person’s defining characteristics.

Alternatively, you can choose to highlight the defining traits of their personality and link them with quotes or memories of the beloved soul. This part can give you at least half of your material.

But be sure to avoid unnecessary details. Keep it to 1-2 short stories. While the eulogy should focus on their personality and how they affected the lives of others but don’t forget to summarize the person’s family, accomplishments, and legacy. However, it doesn’t sound like the entire eulogy is about a list of people, places, and events.

5. Closing the Eulogy

It is good to close with a story, quote, or illustration. Your closing remarks can be between ten seconds to a minute. Add a couple of brief sentences to wrap things up. Consider saying “goodbye” to your loved ones and also say “Thank you” to all the guests for attending the event.

6. Write It Down

Yes, you can be a great speaker and we don’t doubt your memorizing and oration skills. But try to write everything you want to say. If you’re an experienced public speaker, notes or a bare outline can do the purpose. For someone not-so-experienced, write out each word you want to say. You can find more help at funeral homes Waite Hill, OH. Contact us today.

Plan the Perfect Funeral

Arranging a funeral service at funeral homes Mentor, OH, for the lost loved one is not a simple task – especially if you’re doing it for the first time. It involves making dozens of decisions within a short timeframe. You may have to do everything from picking the casket to inviting the guests.

If you’re tasked with managing the last services of the departed soul, here is what you should do:

How to Plan a Funeral

1. Learn About Funeral

First, acquaint yourself with different events involved in a funeral service. This will ease stress and help you reduce costs, and give a perfect tribute to the lost loved one.

Don’t wait till the last day to start arranging for the service. Start planning soon after you’re tasked with arranging the funeral.

2. Set Your Budget

Funerals can cost a lot if you make unscrupulous decisions which are highly likely at a time when you’re experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions.

But there are many cost-friendly ways to honor your loved ones the way they deserve. Much will come down to the choices you make. Here’s how to set your funeral budget:

Research average funeral costs in your locality. Note that cremation often costs less than burial.
Take a look at your finances and insurance, then determine what you can afford
Ask a friend who has already arranged a service before or a professional funeral director to help you stay on task and avoid unnecessary purchases

3. Choose Disposition Method

For most families, this comes down to burial vs cremation. While you have plenty of final disposition ideas but the two most popular choices are cremation and burial.

Make your decision based on the deceased’s final wish, the family’s religious or cultural preferences, and your budget. At the same time, consider whether or not to embalm. This comes true even if you’re going with burial as you have sorts of alternative burial and preservation methods – less expensive than embalming.

4. Decide About the Funeral Services

A complete funeral service includes many events, both before the service and after. That includes wake, viewing, visitation (before events) and reception, cremation, scattering, and committal, also called after events.

5. Plan the Additional Service Events

Next, you need to take care of additional services that make up the whole event like choosing an officiant, deciding on readings, Scriptures, prayers, and songs, as well as who should give the eulogy.

Also, decide if you want an open casket or a closed one, any special music or open mic sharing time, or any other special memorial tributes.

6. Choose a Final Resting Place

While the traditional resting place for burial is at a cemetery, you get tons of options if the loved one is cremated. You may scatter all or part of the ashes in the ocean, river, or from a cliff. Or you can choose to keep the cremation urn at home. Similarly, you can bury the urn, or place it into a columbarium niche at funeral homes Mentor, OH.

Sympathy Gifts Ideas

Gone are the days when funeral flowers were considered the most suitable option to send to a bereaving family after cremation services Mentor, OH. But the trend is changing fast and not to mention, and many people find them depressing.

After all, a sad collection of wilting flowers isn’t exactly the image you want to leave with the recipient of your memorial gift. Thus, we are here with some creative yet thoughtful options you can choose to send when someone dies.

1. Send A Practical Gift

While flowers offer a great way to express your sympathies and condolences, why not send something useful for the funeral? If you share a close relationship with the bereaved family, call a family member and ask to provide something that will help with the funeral.

Avoid asking “How can I help?”, as it is almost always turned down. Instead say that you would like to help by taking care of one of the following items, and ask which would be best:

Guestbook for the service
Framed and printed photo for a memorial table
Funeral/memorial service invitations
Any creative items for the themed memorial tables
Funeral favors to pass out to attendees
Pre-printed thank-you cards
Reception table centerpieces

2. Send a Sympathy Meal

Sending a sympathy meal can be a lovely way of supporting the family who is grieving the death of a loved one. During such overwhelming times, cooking food is the least of the priorities of the bereaved family.

Gifting them food is a considerate way of showing that you care for them. It gives an even more personal message if you made the food yourself. But ordering the food for them or giving them food vouchers still serve the purpose. It takes away the stress of preparing food and enables them to navigate through this emotionally challenging time without additional worries.

3. A Collection of Candles

Since time immemorial, candles have been associated with mourning. They can be a perfect alternative to sympathy flowers. Many people find that lighting a candle and taking time out can be a positive way of remembering the life of their loved ones.

4. A Charity Donation

What is more personal than donating money in the name of the departed soul? And more so, if the deceased had a favorite charity.

Making a charity donation is one of the most popular alternatives to sympathy flowers. Want to take it a step further, give donations to the family to handle the funeral expenses – particularly, if the deceased didn’t have insurance in place or their family has little money to put towards the funeral service.

The family would remember this gesture for a long time to come.

5. Write a Heartfelt Letter

Last but not least, a few words from your heart can mean the world to the grieving family. Write a letter and tell the family how much you appreciated their loved one. You could tell stories about their loved one that you were part of. It leaves a lasting impact on them after cremation services Mentor, OH. Contact us today.

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