Posts Categorized: Marc’s Musings

When we chose to name the Blenheim Community Funeral Home, we wanted to recognize the strong and important role that communities play when someone dies.  It’s not just one person or a group of staff who make a difference when a death occurs; rather it’s a collection of people, from family to friends to neighbours… Read more »

There seems to be an evolving trend in funeral service these days which includes a very simplified service.  More and more people are choosing cremation and following that there may be a memorial service or there may not be one.  Sometimes there is a very personal gathering of family at the graveside to say goodbye… Read more »

The eighth stage of the grief cycle is called State of Inertia.  This is the time when you will feel like doing nothing; the time when you will be sitting in your car, watching a train come down the tracks and wondering what use there is in carrying on.  This is another stage like depression… Read more »

“Grief” is an emotion that we feel when we experience loss.  Death is only one kind of loss.  Other losses that make us grieve include divorce, losing your job, loss of a pet and so on…all of those things that end the life that we knew and force us to start a new one.  There… Read more »

This is the third week for us to walk through the stages of grief that we will all experience when someone close to us dies.  So far I have touched on Shock & Disbelief, Emotional Release and Depression.  The fourth stage that we will go through is called Psychosomatic Illness.  It is very common for… Read more »

The second stage of the grief cycle is Emotional Release.  This is the ability to get rid of those bottled up feelings by crying, by screaming and yes, even by laughing…whatever positive manifestations that allow a release of emotions.  It’s okay to cry…it’s okay to laugh…it’s okay to yell at the world.  You need to… Read more »

You may remember reading this before since I try to run this information every year, but over the next few weeks I am going share what I learned in school about the Psychology of Grief because I feel it is important…    When my sister died the year before I went to Humber College, I kept… Read more »

As I sit in my office this morning I am once again greeted with the sound of rain and I remember life on the farm when I would run down to the implement shed just to hear rain hitting the tin roof.  I remember as a kid that Aunt Fern was the only person we… Read more »

Folks often ask me how long it takes to “return to normal” after someone they love has died.  The reality is that you never “return to normal”, but you “define a new normal” because the life that you knew can never return.  It takes time to work through grief and no two people will grieve… Read more »

Something I’ve noticed lately is that more folks are bringing sympathy cards in to the Funeral Home for families.  Some joke that it’s the price of a stamp but in defense of Canada Post, I couldn’t run a card between Ridgetown and Blenheim for a dollar and they seem to be able to.  I think… Read more »