As this was 1st funeral in the adult stage of my life and having a person closest to my heart, this is what I learned and what I will practice in the future.
- family members are emotionally exhausted and they need external (non-family) help.
- family members should not do the labor but encourage each other.
- serious decisions need to be made and emotional pressure will affect those decisions.
- the funeral is once in a lifetime and serious planning is required that everything goes smooth.
- 1 day of work or even 3 days from church/community members are highly encouraged to help.
- Financial help from the church/community is highly needed.
- After the funeral, there is continued work on sorting the clothes of a loved one, etc… which needs help too.
- the family continues to grieve, crying, sad and needs emotional and helping hand. Food, soup, verses, encouragement. The closest one has a hard time even after a year. First-year is the hardest.
- It is not time to discuss heaven or not but show compassion.
- It is not time to discuss different religions but shows compassion.
- If you had any previous challenges with living ones, put it on the side, call, help. Lots of things don’t matter anymore.
I am very thankful for Hannah’s family as they all took separate tasks and made this funeral possible the best that we could.
Dubravko