Holiday’s Can be Tough- A Personal Reflection

 

This was my moment…finding the last package of replacement bulbs from my late fathers collection that I inherited during the house clean up. It has been three years since he died but when I found that last pack of bulbs to replace some burnt out ones I was putting up…boy did the tears start to flow.

 

It was a moment. No one knows when or how moments of grief happen, but that is why I love working for Hospice. Learning how grief and sadness, joy and celebration can co-exist in the same moment. Flashbacks of times with him putting up lights and sadness of this being a final physical item that would bring joy to this year but the finality of it being the last package of lights…the last physical piece of that memory.

 

But I am not alone in this.  The holidays are challenging for so many people who are actively living the journey or reflecting on lives lived.   

 

That is why our grief and bereavement programs are so important and impactful.  It is also important to note that these programs are only available thanks to the caring support of donors, as we must raise $182 each year to fill the funding gap not provided by the government for each of the hundreds of people we support each year.

 

As one caring member of our community shared recently about the support this program provided to them: