{"id":323,"date":"2012-10-11T17:20:59","date_gmt":"2012-10-11T17:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/remembermegiftboutique.com\/blog\/?p=323"},"modified":"2014-07-07T22:37:33","modified_gmt":"2014-07-07T22:37:33","slug":"beyond-sympathy-gifts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/remembermegiftboutique.com\/blog\/beyond-sympathy-gifts\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Sympathy Gifts:  Helping Those Grieving"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/remembermegiftboutique.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/heart-to-hold.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-326\" title=\"heart to hold\" src=\"http:\/\/remembermegiftboutique.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/heart-to-hold-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/remembermegiftboutique.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/heart-to-hold-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/remembermegiftboutique.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/heart-to-hold-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/remembermegiftboutique.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/heart-to-hold-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/remembermegiftboutique.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/heart-to-hold.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>What is your initial thought when you learn that a family member or friend is dealing with the loss of a loved one? \u00a0Is it calling your local florist to send flowers? \u00a0Searching for the perfect Memorial Gift Ideas? \u00a0Do you struggle with what to say or do?<\/p>\n<p>When my family was dealing with a traumatic death, the flowers, meals, and cards were generously flooding our home. \u00a0While we appreciated every gesture, there was one that stood out. \u00a0It wasn&#8217;t a monetary sympathy gift, a delicious meal, or a meaningful card. \u00a0 It was simply an act of kindness&#8230; by a 16 year old high school student.<\/p>\n<p>She appeared the day of my brother&#8217;s funeral. \u00a0We didn&#8217;t know her and had no idea of her connection with my brother. \u00a0She was just there. \u00a0People were gathering at our home prior to the funeral. \u00a0Meals were placed on the kitchen counter, half empty cups where scattered all over the house, and it was very chaotic, to say the least. \u00a0As we were leaving for the funeral, this young lady asked if she could stay behind to &#8220;clean up the mess&#8221;. \u00a0While we encouraged her to go to the funeral, she declined.<\/p>\n<p>While we were mourning our loss, she was doing something different; something unexpected. \u00a0When we returned to our home, we were greeted by the smell of freshly brewed coffee. \u00a0All the casseroles were heated and placed, ever so beautifully, in our kitchen. \u00a0Every left behind cup was gone. \u00a0Each pillow was fluffed and placed warmly on our sofa. \u00a0The house was comforting and inviting.<\/p>\n<p>The memory of this moment still stings my eyes. \u00a0As I look back on this day, I do not recall if she was told how much she was appreciated&#8230; if she truly understood the impact her act of compassion had our family. \u00a0 Did her parents know what an amazing young lady they had raised?<\/p>\n<p>How can we help those grieving? \u00a0Please share your stories to enlighten those who are searching for ways to help or words to say.<\/p>\n<p>God Bless You!<\/p>\n<p>Debbie<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is your initial thought when you learn that a family member or friend is dealing with the loss of a loved one? \u00a0Is it calling your local florist to send flowers? \u00a0Searching for the perfect Memorial Gift Ideas? \u00a0Do you struggle with what to say or do? When my family was dealing with a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[125,111,108],"tags":[126,32,127,17,47,50],"class_list":["post-323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","placeholder-for-hentry","category-by-helping-others","category-dealing-with-grief","category-inspirational-stories","tag-dealing-with-grief-2","tag-grief-2","tag-inspirational-stories-2","tag-personal-inspiration","tag-sympathy-gifts-2","tag-sympathy-peom"],"psp_head":"<title>Beyond Sympathy Gifts:  Helping Those Grieving \u2013 www.RememberMeGiftBoutique.com<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How can you help someone who is grieving due to the loss of a loved one?\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index,follow\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/remembermegiftboutique.com\/blog\/beyond-sympathy-gifts\/\" \/>\r\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/remembermegiftboutique.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/remembermegiftboutique.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/remembermegiftboutique.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remembermegiftboutique.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remembermegiftboutique.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/remembermegiftboutique.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":554,"href":"https:\/\/remembermegiftboutique.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323\/revisions\/554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/remembermegiftboutique.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remembermegiftboutique.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remembermegiftboutique.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}