Remembering a Life (or, Why do we have funerals?)

Funerals are hard. Attending them recognises a separation from someone significant to us. We may love them very much. Experiencing the loss of someone close may be the most difficult thing we will ever have to do. It has been for me.

Death forces change upon us. Funerals force us to face that change and find appropriate ways to remember those closest to us.

Funerals are a reminder of how our lives have changed because a special person has died.

Funerals are about accepting our place in the scheme of things. They can be about recognising our own mortality. Acknowledging our mortality is a process that comes slowly to most of us. It often takes a lifetime. The thought of separation from those we value most may be unbearable.

Continue . . .