The Healing Journey

July 21, 2024

“When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure.”
— Author unknown

Cynthia knew when her mother took out the little box that contained photos of their relatives, it would be time for their ritual of paying respect to those who had gone before. The box contained old photos of her grandmother and family members from “back in the day.” Cynthia was the oldest and the only daughter in her family and her mother loved to share memories with her.

“Once in a while, she would get it out and go through them with me and share her memories of each photo and who everyone was. I came to know them very well.  This became a little ceremony once in a while….I’d see her with the box on the kitchen table, and I knew it was time to sit down with her and let her tell her stories and share her little memories. And one of the painful memories was that her mom lost her mother when she was only 7 years old.

“My mother was the ninth child, so luckily, she had three much older sisters who took care of her on and off while she was young.  Anyway, being so young, she had a very romantic, sentimental memory of her mother. She never really got over it either.”

“So, when I got older, I realized that even though I never got to know my grandmother, my mother’s sharing about her made her real to me.  She was part of me and my life.  One time, our family drove to the cemetery where she was, and I got to be actually physically close to her finally and it meant a lot to me.”

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Always share memories of those you love who have passed, especially with family members who never knew them. This keeps your love alive and lets others share it too.