Holiday Enchantment - Aspirus

Love Lives On
by Amy L. Kitsembel, M.Ed., Bereavement Coordinator
When the holidays come, often times it sharpens
our focus on loved ones who have died and we may
struggle with “celebrating” without them. It is often
stated that the anticipation of the event is often
harder than the actual event.
There are two powerful statements that apply to grief
as we anticipate the holiday season.
The only way to the other side of grief is to go
through it, (not around or under, but through
it). What exactly does that mean? Feel your loss.
Denying our emotions and repressing feelings
does not help us move forward in our healing. Let
your emotions around the loss be felt. Tell stories.
Remember. Laugh. Cry. Celebrate. Mourn. Sing.
Death ends a life not a relationship. Although you
miss your loved one, their memory and connection
to you is as permanent as their love. Some folks still
talk to their loved ones, some buy gifts for a cause
their loved one enjoyed or supported, yet others may
share quiet time together with family and remember
their loved one’s ‘role’ during a family celebration.
Maybe they always
made the best cookies,
or they cut down the
holiday tree, or maybe
they were the family
scrooge. Perhaps there are
Amy L. Kitsembel, M.Ed.,
“family” jokes they would
Bereavement Coordinator
re-tell, or maybe they created
the magic by putting up the
lights, or making sure each person got something
special. These memories are part of our relationship,
and a treasure to our hearts just as our loved one
was. We may redefine their roles during the holiday,
and perhaps their gift to us now is in re-telling their
life story and what it means to us.
Being purposeful to remember and acknowledge our
profound feelings around loss - the remembering all
those little things that make our loved one special to
us - is how and why love lives on.
“Love is stronger than death even though it can’t
stop death from happening, but no matter how hard
death tries it can’t separate people from love. It can’t
take away our memories either. In the end, life is
stronger than death.”- Anonymous
“Treasuring Memories”
Family Memorial Art
An art project for children and their families to memorialize a loved one.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
2 - 3:30 pm and 4:30 - 6 pm.*
*Registration is required.
Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum
Contact: Woodson Art Museum at 715-845-7010 to register
Or The Grief Center at 715-847-2703 with questions
Passion for Excellence. Compassion for people.
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