Bereavement Series : In Loving Memory

Love Is Eternal.

In Loving Memory and Dedicated to William L. Hough, Sr., who loved wildlife and the wilderness.
Thank you Bill for your kindness, generosity, caring, sense of humor, and love of life. You are missed greatly.

Thank you Bill for so many incredible times enjoying nature's beauty and for encouraging me to get started in multimedia on computers. The Beauty of the Oregon Coast Wilderness will always remind me of you. In a way, being with the beauty of nature, the wildlife and wilderness, will always be like being with you.

Life is eternal. Love is eternal. The video below was made with you in my thoughts.

Kristi

Bereavement Series: Learning Something New

Nothing and no one can replace the special uniqueness of the loved one you have lost.

Personal growth, learning something new, doing something you've never done before, is a way to jumpstart life again.

After losing my husband in 1996 to cancer, and now after losing my beloved friend Bill this year to heart surgery, I know I've got to pull myself up and get going. They would each want me to enjoy life, have adventures, and use my abilities to give something beautiful to the world and to others.

I'm learning new computer programs, starting a new video project for the internet, and exploring the wilderness in Oregon. All the time I feel that the spirits of the ones I've lost are gently encouraging me forward and providing inspiration.

Bereavement Series: Opening to New Experiences

The empty places in life that were filled by a dear loved one mean that recreating the same life without that person won't work. Life looks like a piece of swiss cheese full of holes.

Opening to new experiences, a willingness to try things you've never done before, helps bring good things out of the pain of loss.

Thinking of the inter-connectedness of all things, and of joining up again with the community of living things, is part of recovery from bereavement.

Bereavement seems to be a solo journey of a seeker. No one can replace the unique essence of the person who is gone, and what the person meant to you.

I could see I would need to be braver and venture out where I hadn't been before after I lost my husband. Now, after losing a dearly loved companion, Bill, again I can see I need to go out into the unknown.

The old activities without Bill would be just that - without Bill. So it's time to redesign the old lifestyle. Exploring the unknown, and living with some uncertainty, means life will go down a new road.

My mantra could be "stay open to change."

Bereavement Series: Pet Therapy for Grief

When words cannot describe grief, the comfort of pets can be a blessing. Pets sense things that people may miss as we've seen on TV shows like Animal Planet. Changes in people's moods and health may be picked up by their pets.

My own rescued dogs are now rescuing me during the time following my beloved friend Bill's death. Teddybear, my lab mix, looks at me and then brings his toy and uses body language to tell me to throw it in the air for him to catch. Heidi, my little 6 lb. "mystery mix" gazes into my eyes, and licks my hands and face, and frisks about clearly asking me to play.

Sometimes animals can reach someone mentally and emotionally when people and words don't seem to work. The pets sense feelings and react with nurturing.

They sense when people are not their usual selves. There are many TV shows with videos of pets rescuing people who are ill or injured.

My own dogs clearly sense that something is different. The fact that their friend Bill has not been around now for awhile has been absorbed mentally somehow and they sense change.

As if we are one family, or one dog or wolf pack, they have been going out of their way to reach out to the member of the pack who is not her usual self.

The companionship of pets provides comfort and an uplift during the loneliness following loss,