Dale Jackson—a licensed embalmer and funeral director with 46 years of experience and counting—shares his story (SPOILER: and his own near-death experience at 13:13) and lessons learned from his time helping families through the loss of a loved one.
Unable to think, concentrate or remember things is not uncommon after the death of a loved one. It is all part of what has been called “widow’s fog.”
Everyone has been touched by loss in one way or another. And, of course, the holidays tend to bring out our sadness. Remembering loved ones who have passed, or just not feeling the holiday spirit—these two articles might help!
If you were dying, what would you want your children to know? The story
This winter, my very close friend lost her mom. She and her siblings were very close to their mother and so the loss of her mother was significant. I knew the feeling of losing a parent. Going through the death of a parent is a difficult process, but I also knew that it wasn’t over.
Jennifer was 41 when she was killed by a motorcycle while crossing the street.
Each body has its own way of shutting down due to illness or injury. In a natural death, your breathing will simply slow until it stops. That is out of our control. Eventually all of our bodies will wear down to nothing more than ashes and dust. But American culture struggles with accepting mortality. We don’t like to age; we don’t like ugly. Unfortunately, neither idealizing nor ignoring death will make it go away.
“Closure doesn’t even exist. It’s a made-up concept that we use to talk about loss and grief, but seeking it can do more harm than good.”
The When You Die staff is committed to bringing death back into our everyday conversations as an integral part of our human journey.
Kate Braestrup shares the story of Nina, a five-year-old who insisted to her parents that she needed to visit her dead cousin and best friend Andy, a four-year-old, at a nearby funeral parlor.
