OBITUARIES GRIEF ASSISTANCE PLAN AHEAD CONTACT US HOME French Funerals - Cremations       PO Box 25063       Albuquerque, NM 87125-0063        1-505-843-6333            info@remembertheirstory.com    The following questions and answers provide an opportunity for others to share their experiences of grief and loss. If you would like to submit your own questions, please do so by clicking on  Program Offerings and then Support through Individual Counseling.   The Questions and Answers page is updated regularly so please check back often.  Live Passionately Facebook French Funerals Cremations New Mexico Ethics in Business Award REFLECTIONS local references Grief and Loss Series Helpful Articles HELPFUL ARTICLES Recommended Reading reflections GRIEF SERIES LOCAL REFERENCES RECOMMENDED  READING • My father died several months ago and I'm already dreading the holiday season.  What can I do to make this holiday meaningful for my family and me? • Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by grief.  Can you give me some tips on how to handle this?        • A member of my co-worker's family just died.  What can my work team do for this individual? • "Death" is not an easy topic for me to talk about.  Can you comment on this subject?  • My husband and I recently lost our eighteenth month old child.  How can I be supportive of my husband during this incredible grief?  • Our family is grieving the loss of our youngest child, age three.  How do my husband and I respond to the needs of our other children?  My father died several months ago and I'm already dreading the holiday season.  What can I do to make this holiday meaningful for my family and me? When you've lost a loved one, the holiday season can be an especially painful time.  Holidays are by nature nostalgic, and even the happiest of memories can be painful when one is grieving.  Here are two suggestions that are especially helpful.    - Be prepared!  Don't be taken off guard.  Be prepared for the holidays to be an emotional time for you.  Don't be surprised by sadness, loneliness, anger, yearning or any other feelings.  Openly share with family and friends what's on your mind.  - Change traditions!  Don't be afraid to change traditional holiday celebrations.  Of course there will some traditions you will still want to honor, but start changing small things such as having dinner at a different time or in a different family member's home.  Changing tradition is a sign that your life has now changed. - Back to top Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by grief.  Can you give me some tips on how to handle this?          Sometimes during the grief process it is helpful to approach recovery with simple actions that can be done one day at a time.  By initially acting in short intervals, it is easier to develop a long term renewed meaning and purpose in life.  Consider the following:     - Back to top A member of my co-worker's family just died.  What can my work team do for this individual? Many companies send flower arrangements, food baskets or plants to the co-worker.  For those who worked directly with the individual and prefer to send their own acknowledgement, a group sympathy card signed by each person can be comforting.  Contributing to a charity in the name of the deceased may be a kind gesture.  Individual notes written on nice stationery are always appropriate.  - Back to top "Death" is not an easy topic for me to talk about.  Can you comment on this subject?  Death is natural; it's inevitable.  Discovering meaning and satisfaction in life can grow out of our knowledge that life has an end, that there is only a finite amount of time to appreciate, to create, to achieve.  Death creates an urgency to love and care more fully about others because life and those whom we hold dear, will come to an end. - Back to top My husband and I recently lost our eighteenth month old child.  How can I be supportive of my husband during this incredible grief?  Parents grieve differently.  Following a child's death, a father's emotions are around as strongly as the mother's, but the experience and expression of these emotions vary greatly.  It's import that parents recognize these complexities of grief and refrain from becoming critical and judgmental of each others.  Each has lost a child.  Each must be gentle…compassionate…patient. - Back to top Our family is grieving the loss of our youngest child, age three.  How do my husband and I respond to the needs of our other children It's important to be sensitive to the needs of the remaining children in the household.  It's common to think that children are unable to realize the significance of death.  That's note true.  Children are profoundly touched by the loss of a sibling and need help in understanding their inner conflict and confusion.  Life has changed for them, too, and it's imperative that they are helped to sort through and understand their own grief.      - Back to top