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
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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.