When you lose a loved one, it can feel like someone is missing for a long time, as day-to-day life looks different without them. This feeling can take a great deal of time to overcome, but taking the time to memorialize a loved one can be a wonderful way to begin or further the healing process. At first, it can feel painful to remember your loved one, but the more time you spend thinking about the ways you loved them and all the time you spent together, the more it can help you find some peace.
Although there are many ways to memorialize your loved one, here are a few ideas to jumpstart your own memorialization.
7 Ways to Memorialize Your Loved One
1. Add a custom gravestone to their burial site.
Every cemetery has different guidelines for what is necessary for a grave marker, but in many cases, you can customize a gravestone to include things that were unique to your loved one, such as their favorite quotes or even their own image.
2. Place a memorial bench near their final resting place.
A memorial bench itself functions as a memorial to your loved one. In many cases, depending on the guidelines of your loved one’s chosen cemetery, you can engrave a memorial bench with things about your loved one, like their favorite quotes.
However, a memorial bench also provides a place for you and others who loved your loved one to comfortably come together to spend some time with the person you’re all missing.
3. Write down your stories with them.
Memories are precious, but our clarity of them can become fuzzy over time. By taking the time to write down your memories with them, you’re creating a book that you can always return to when you want to think about them. This book is also a beautiful thing to share with others who are missing your loved one.
4. Visit a place that reminds you of them.
Our senses heighten our memories. Say you were to visit a beach that you used to go to with your loved one. The smell of the sea air, the sound of the lapping waves, the sight of the flowers that grow along the path, the taste of the ice cream that you’d always get at the boardwalk—these are all things that can make the memory of being together come back even more strongly.
5. Support something in their memory.
By creating something in the memory of your loved one, you’re leaving a legacy for them. You might consider making a scholarship fund to support the youth in their community or doing a fundraiser for a cause that meant a lot to them.
6. Write them a letter.
Sometimes, we don’t think we said enough to our loved one. You can tell someone you love them every day of their life, and in the end, you’ll still wish you had the opportunity to say it to them more. Consider writing them a letter to tell them the things you would say to them if they were still with you in your day-to-day life.
Depending on the regulations of your loved one’s burial place, you may also be able to leave the letter on their gravesite, which can feel very meaningful, as if you were speaking to them.
7. Plant a memorial tree.
When you plant a memorial tree, you get to watch it grow. Planting a new life can lift you up and remind you of the beauty of the planet we’re all lucky to share. You can also place memorial stones around the tree in your loved one’s honor, reminding you that your loved one is always there, always with you, even if you can’t see them.