It’s been 20+years since my beloved mom (aka Beazy) suddenly graduated to heaven… but I’m thinking there’s someone who might need to hear this today. Grace and peace, Beth
Have you ever gotten so caught up in grief, you weren’t sure you’d ever find your way out? I surely have.
It was four months after my mom’s hit-me-like-a speeding-train sudden death. Even though I was pretending I had this grief thing under control, in reality I was stuck and had no idea how to dig myself out of the deep sorrow. A typical day would be spent at home, safe from awkward questions and embarrassing public tears. Anybody else been there?
One morning after the kids had gone to school, I settled into my cozy chair and started to think about my mom.
What if I forget about her?
What if memories fade and I don’t remember the time she followed a speeding ambulance through rush hour Atlanta traffic to beat the crowd to Hobby Lobby? Didn’t everybody’s mom do that?
I start to write every sweet, embarrassing and hilarious story I could possibly recall. About two hours later I realized I hadn’t moved a muscle, except to write.
The most amazing thing happened that morning. As decades of memories poured out on my spiral notebook pages~ I started to smile, and even laugh again through the tears. Tears of thankfulness for this rare and extraordinary woman I called Mom.
How about you? I don’t know your story, but I do know that remembering the people we love is a beautiful way not only to honor them, but also to begin to heal. Do you have a place you can go to write their story? You don’t need an expensive journal- a spiral notebook like mine will be just perfect.
My prayer is that as you recall and write your good, bad and crazy ambulance-chasing Hobby Lobby stories, you’ll begin to see sweet glimmers of healing.
Please visit the Grief Survivor FaceBook to share a funny, sweet or memorable story about your loved one. Your stories of love, loss, life and finding joy inspire the rest of us more than you know!
Additionally, here’s a YouVersion plan I created –Grief Survivor -that will hopefully be encouraging for you.