Becoming widowed is a gut-wrenching experience. It brings so much sadness and loneliness to our lives. It takes a huge adjustment to get through those days along the grief journey. We never get over the loss, but we can attempt to do things that make it more bearable for ourselves.
One idea we may want to try is to keep their memory alive. Doing this allows you to hold onto a piece of them forever. Below are ten suggestions to consider if you want to do this.
- Display their collections – If your spouse had a hobby, you can frame things or make a shadow box out of something they used for that hobby. It could hang on a wall to be handed down through the generations as a treasured keepsake. If they painted or drew, you could have their work framed. Maybe he didn’t draw but had a favorite painting in the house already framed. You could add a marker that stated it was his favorite painting along with the dates of his life span.
- Create a blanket from their clothes – You can gather shirts and make a blanket out of them. If you cannot sew, there are people who can do this for you. This is becoming quite popular these days. Stuffed pillows or stuffed bears for children or grandchildren are made from shirts as well.
- Place a garden statue in their honor – You can purchase a garden statue of your choosing and have an inscription placed on it to say whatever you would like.
- Wear jewelry in memory of your spouse – You can have engraving done on the jewelry also. With cremations becoming more and more popular, jewelry is now being made with small amounts of the loved one’s ashes.
- Fill a memory box – Do you have special mementos of your life together? A memory box filled with those mementos is an extraordinary way to cherish the memories for safekeeping for many years to come.
- Name a star- Naming a star after your spouse can bring a feeling of comfort when looking up at the night sky, seeing all the stars shining brightly and twinkling back at you. One of those stars has your spouse’s name.
- Design a photo quilt- You can have a quilt made at a photo lab, or do it yourself if you know how, that consists of pictures that bring you comfort. You can sleep with the quilt on your bed or near you each night.
- Cherish your spouse’s signature – If you have a clear copy of your spouse’s signature, you can have memory items made with the signature on it. It becomes a personalized piece in their own handwriting.
- Donate in their honor- Donations can be made to honor your spouse in different ways. This could be to a favorite charity, starting a scholarship in their name, or donating books to a local library.
- Plant a tree– Consider planting at your home or somewhere else. Just make sure you have permission to do so.
It is true that our spouses are gone from this world physically, but we do not have to let their memory die with them. By doing any one of these mentioned, or any you can come up with on your own, their memory can go on living throughout the years. Generations to come can experience the memory if they are well thought out and cared for.
