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Saying Goodbye is never easy

May 16, 2017by alison

Last week I lost a friend and ex-work colleague to cancer.

The world we inhabit now makes it more likely that we all have friends and family scattered across the globe. ย My friend lived in the US, so it was not possible to attend her funeral.

The result is that I found myself feeling very sad and was denied the chance to say goodbye at her memorial ceremony.

I decided to make a small wreath of flowers from my garden and walked to a jewel of a beach near my home in the Highlands. ย Itโ€™s a remote spot and thankfully there was no-one else there.

As I dropped the flowers into the receding tide and watched them float out towards the Atlantic, I reflected on the happy times we had had together, her amazing personality and all the things she had achieved in her life.

It’s clear to me how important funerals are โ€“ itโ€™s in our nature, as humans, to share the happy and the sad times.

Funerals help you come to terms with loss, itโ€™s the start the grieving process.

We live in a much more connected world online, but a potentially a much lonelier place, in the real world. ย May be it is time to re-think how we have funerals, to include those who canโ€™t be there.

By Anne Widdop