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The months are moving to fast, soon we will be into fall and wondering what the heck happened..... make the best of your days, and they will be your memories..... A family I have met this summer has made a beautiful garden in memory of the daughter they lost in January..... the following article showed up today for me to share.....

 

Bridges and Memories

 

A friend of mine lost his wife, after a long, long illness. He cared for her every day,

and the habit of caring for her was deeply engrained into his being. It was the loss

of that connection, that day-to-day caring, which caused him the most pain.

 

For him, the mundane activities of caring for her dying body were the bridge

of love between them. After she was gone, he rebuilt the bridge by creating and

tending an honor garden, filled with her favorite flowers. “She’s with me, in her

garden. I feel her presence very strongly,” he said to me one day.

 

And I believed him.

 

Our society has given us the opportunity to redefine those means of

memorializing our loved ones. No more do we automatically turn to the

cemetery to grieve; often times, we are left with a box of cremated

remains, and the intention to do something with them –without knowing

exactly what should be done. So, ask yourself, where do I feel the

closeness we shared in life?

 

For my friend, it was in the honor garden he lovingly created for her.

A year after her passing, in the spring, he and I staged a memorial

service for her – her closest friends and family members each brought

a story to share, and a plant for the garden extension he was planning.

What a success! So many guests echoed his sentiments that she was

with us in the garden that day – and I believed them all; because I felt it too.

 

Quotation for the Day

 

“There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love,

the only survival, the only meaning.” - Thornton Wilder