Page 8 - 2016 Autumn-Winter Issue

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Making Sure Loved Ones Who
Have Passed are Part of our Present
by Allison Gilbert
One of the most uplifting gifts I’ve ever heard of
giving someone in a time of loss is a wicker basket
full of daffodil bulbs. The idea is for the recipient Individuals who honor their connections to the
to plant one bulb for every year their loved one
lived. Daffodils are the perfect flower for such a
commemorative project: as perennials, they’ll come
back spring after spring — and they’re virtually
indestructible. And, the best time of year to plant
daffodils happens to be right now, as Thanksgiving
approaches.
Planting daffodils can bring bereaved parents
enormous joy. Remembering promotes healing
8 |We Need Not Walk Alone
and taking proactive steps to keep your child’s
memory alive has the power to make you happier.
past, who allow loved ones to remain present in
their lives, almost always fare better emotionally
than those who don’t. Honoring past relationships
has proven to have such significant restorative
power that noted grief expert, J. William Worden,
developed an entire bereavement-recovery
theory about it. Worden coined the term “tasks
of mourning.” This concept not only includes
remembering as a mandatory tenet, but also