Lots of Thursday Thoughts…..

Today we celebrate Thoughtful Thursday’s 100th posting! Looking back to its inception I remember the simple desire to help people understand their grief, find peace, and address some of the most asked, but rarely answered, questions about death and funeral care. It has been a rewarding experience in self-reflection and foremost, a chance to support people searching for truth in what is probably the most profound mystery of our lives, death. Beginning this venture, I knew the mystery of death was intimately and intricately inter-connected to the mystery of life, I now believe more intensely these are inextricable joined. At this momentous juncture, I share some of my favorite ideas and posts. 



Our first posting was November 19, 2020 with this welcome: In keeping with the Miles tradition to “honor and celebrate lives”, Thoughtful Thursdays will muse on topics that help us cherish life, including themes like love, challenge, gratitude, hope, adventure, discovery, and blessings. The Miles blog is written for a general audience understanding that whether you are a professional, colleague, a consumer of our funeral homes, or someone we have yet to meet, we share a common journey and can all benefit from a few insightful words.”

Some ideas and words were truly inspired. I am not sure where inside me the words were born, but in the writing, I was inspired to dig deeper, to engage with mystery before me. Here are a few:

Posted 12/9/21  Amid the mysteries and theories, what I do know is that a person is only gone from this earth when we forget them. When we no longer remember the joy we felt when we were with them, or the comfort we had in trusting them, or the simple pleasures of everyday life with them, then they are gone. When the treasured stories have lost their spark, when we no longer adorn our homes with our loved one’s photos, when we forget how they loved us, then they are gone. 

Posted 2/10/22  A funeral, memorial service or celebration of life brings the reality of death to the fore where we have a chance to formally begin the grieving process. But when the service is over and everyone goes home, we are left with the stark realization that our loved one is no longer here to see, touch and relate to us in the flesh. Now begins the work of establishing a new way of relating to someone whose spirit, memories, energy, and love remain with us. When someone dies, we can no longer depend on the five physical senses to relate to them, we must exercise our sixth sense, that way of knowing and enjoying the presence of one no longer in the flesh. This is the work of grief.

Posted 1/14/21 With a growing number of people identifying as spiritual rather than religious, it is challenging to create rituals that accomplish what cultural and religious ceremonies have in the past. Helping people create meaningful ritual helps clarify their beliefs and express the significance of the moment. Humans need rituals to enable the human heart to celebrate, mourn and endure life’s deepest moments. 

These were the posts that were easiest to write:

• 12/31/20 … Reset …. Resolve….     https://blog.milesfuneralhome.com/reflect-reset-resolve/
• 1/28/21 Funerals During a Pandemic … https://blog.milesfuneralhome.com/240-2/
• 1/27/22 Preplanning 101 – Everything you need to knowhttps://blog.milesfuneralhome.com/preplanning-101-everything-you-need-to-know/

My all-time favorite post is Bah Humbug!, in which I posit that Scrooge suffers from unresolved grief. I thoroughly enjoyed thinking this idea through and relished writing about my theory even more! https://blog.milesfuneralhome.com/bah-humbug/. A close second is the series in which I personified the seasons, each writing a letter with advice for the grieving heart, published May 6,13,20 and 27th of 2021.

Thank you for your continued attention through these two and half years, for your kind responses and the verbal encouragement so many of you have given me.   If you have a favorite quote, a beloved post, or just a special message as we meet this 100 Posts milestone, please share in the comment section below. 

Here’s to the next 100!