An email from Lisa, for whom I conducted a Memorial Service for her dog, Molly. It was such a sweet time, concluding with a tree planting over Molly’s ashes.
“It was so wonderful. Perfect, and sincere, and loving, and humourous. Thank you for your attention to detail, and really understanding the essence of Molly and my relationship with her (and Missy’s too!) Thank you again for giving me and Missy, and all of Molly’s fairy dogmothers a wonderful way to say a happy goodbye to her.”
Thank you, Lisa!
After telling folks that I am a Funeral Celebrant, and explaining just what that is, I am often asked why and how I chose this profession.
It’s still a work in progress for me to answer that question, easily and succinctly. In many ways, this profession chose me. So here is a little synopsis of the seemingly unrelated events and circumstances that occurred over a period of a decade, that led me to the wonderful training offered by Doug Manning and Glenda Stansbury in June of 2007.
As a licensed Spiritual Practitioner or counselor, trained at Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angeles, I became co-facilitator of a bereavement group, primarily working with those who had lost a precious animal companion. This allowed me to open my heart to companioning those in grief, which I still do today by co-facilitating a monthly Bereavement Circle here in Seattle.
I attended many Memorial Services at Agape, and became used to the concept of celebrating a person’s life with stories, well-chosen music, sometimes video tributes, and highly individualized ceremonies. This is simply the way it’s done at Agape. Some services were for celebrities that attended Agape, but whether the deceased was a celebrity or simply a beloved and valued congregant, the love shown the family, and the service itself, was always uplifting and healing. I always left those services feeling sad, yes, for the loss, but also full…of hope, of wonder, of such appreciation for the life celebrated, and for the life we are all given.
I’ll continue this in another post.
