Keep Memories Alive
When a close friend or family member passes away, we deal with huge voids in our lives that represent our lost friend. While friends will certainly be there to try to help you get through such a difficult time, it’s also understood that as time passes, everyone will go back to their own lives, leaving you to grieve alone.
Many people choose to do something on their own that will help keep a loved one’s memory alive, and it’s something they can begin working on while they’re planning a funeral.
3 Great Ways to Keep a Loved One’s Memory Alive
We discovered several thoughtful, creative ways to keep a loved one’s memory alive in your hearts and minds. Consider doing these alone, or asking family members and friends if they’d also like to join you.
1. Make a Book of Memories
Creating a scrapbook sounds impersonal, but when you rebrand it as a book of memories, it takes on a more meaningful perspective. Gather some of your favorite photos along with any other memorabilia you can think of. This could include ticket stubs or programs of events you went to see together. If you don’t have the physical reminder, you could also consider going online and printing a logo or an image of an event or a location you went to for an anniversary or a vacation. This exercise will help you cement their place in your life with visible tokens of your memory.
2. Plant a Tree
Find a place in your yard where you can plant a young tree that represents your loved one. Through the years, as it grows, you’ll fondly remember them. When you water, feed or prune the tree, you’ll have pleasant memories come back to you and it will become a peaceful chore that helps you reconnect in surprising ways.
Some people might choose to plant a memorial garden as well. By planting some perennials, like daffodils or some other flowers, they’ll bloom each spring and give you a great feeling of love and nostalgia.
3. Create an Act-of-Kindness Anniversary
An amazing thing to consider for an entire family is to do an “act of kindness” once per year near the anniversary of your loved one’s death. These could be large endeavors, like volunteering at a soup kitchen or helping a project like Habitat for Humanity, or they could be smaller things like running in a 5K for a charity or baking something for a firehouse or the elderly.
The idea is that you are conditioning your family to remember your lost loved one in a healthy way that helps them learn to help others in their name. The memory of one person can turn into help for others for several years.
The Gardens of Boca Raton Cemetery & Funeral Services holds funerals in the South Florida area for people from Broward, Dade or Palm Beach County. Call their Boca Raton offices at (561) 989-9190 for help planning a funeral or preplanning your own funeral.
