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| "As loved ones pass on, we can continue to hold them close and listen, learn and be supported by them each and every day." Margie Freedberg |
Thought for the Day: Usually, on Wednesday's Words of Wisdom, I feature a quote. Today I am going to share a guest post instead. Two days ago, on what would have been my brother Larry's birthday, my sister-in-law, Margie Bogdanow, posted a story on her blog that I feel compelled to share with you. Margie, who also happens to be a licensed social worker and educator, is someone I am blessed to have in my life and in my family's lives. Her parents, Irwin and Irene Freedberg, were both stolen from this world too soon by brain cancer. They were amazing human beings who touched the lives of all who knew them. (I wrote about Dr. Irwin Freedberg in my book as a role model of a parent who encourages their children to accomplish their dreams. Irene was a social worker whose wisdom helped design programs to help following 9/11.) Here are Margie's wonderful Words of Wisdom.
Wrapped in My Mom’s Warm Winter Coat
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| Translation: In Memory |
As my mom’s 8th (how could that possibly be?) Yartzeit surrounds me (due to the significant difference between the Hebrew and English calendars this year) I find myself thinking about what we take and what we leave behind when someone dies. There are the values that are ingrained in us – those we don’t always have a choice about. If we are lucky, we are happy with those values and lessons learned. If not, we struggle to create and develop new ways of approaching the world.
But there is also the “stuff” -the “things”, the “objects”. My parents died 7 months apart – too close together for me to have the luxury of grieving in a timely way for either one of them. The months surrounding and following my mom’s death are a blur to me.
