The bench at Josh’s tree
This is a difficult time of the year for many who grieve for a loved one. As we gather in what is often the only time in the year when families are all together, the absence of those who have died is felt even more keenly. For us obviously the ‘emptiest’ chair belongs to Josh and six years on we still struggle to fill that space with memories and stories that will lighten our day, rather than dampen it with the ‘what ifs’ and ‘if onlys’.
We also miss his grandmother who died this time last year, a timely death though that does much to console us in the sense that hers is at least in the natural order of things. And it is in this spirit that we offer our best wishes to all who grieve but especially those who grieve for a child.
Joshua with his Grandmother Emily – we mixed some of their ashes before scattering them on the Ganges earlier this year.
Our project is called The GOOD GRIEF project because we want to get away from the idea that grief is all bad. Of course grief is painful, disturbing and full of complicated and often conflicting feelings, but it can also be life enhancing taking you as it does to places deeper within you, to places that may put you in touch with a more fuller sense of your humanity.
If moments of sadness will come and go becoming less painful over time, our grief we have found does not go away. We don’t experience grief as something that must be overcome, but more as a new state of being. It has become part of us in the sense that Josh is still part of us, his granny is still part of – they still live on in our hearts and they can still bring us joy. So grief can be good and there are some special treasures to be found. Josh is still terribly missed (Emily too but not in quite the same way) but at the same time we have been given the opportunity to create some new things that we hope are of value to the world.
Jane presents our work for The Digital Legacy Conference 2016 at St Joseph’s Hospice in London.
And this past year has been especially productive.
The Good Grief Project is now officially a charity, our website is now fully functioning, and the film production for A LOVE THAT NEVER DIES is progressing with renewed energy (watch the trailer here and see the clips on YOUR STORIES page) and is scheduled to release in March 2017.
So go ahead and take a look around the rest of this website, check out our latest news, and if you like what we trying to do, please consider supporting us with a donation – large or small, every donation is important to especially as we try and build on our achievements so far. Its all about helping those who’ve experienced the worst and helping us to help them find news ways express their grief.
In the mean time have a wonderful Christmas break, raise a toast to our loved ones, and carry their memory with pride into 2017.
With love and compassion
Jane and Jimmy
