You have begun to climb the long mountain of acceptance. You have said goodbye to your loved one. You have gone through setting up the funeral, and it was much harder and more expensive than you ever dreamt it would be. You sat through the service, and dealt with the remains as they wanted them to be. You shook the hands of the people who came, pondered why the people who didn't show never arrived, listened to the I'm sorry's till you were tired of the words and they held little comfort, and you came back to the new world you never thought would come. But now there's one more step - thank-you cards filled with funeral thank you verses.
When a person is done with the funeral, the funeral thank you verses is the last thing that crosses their mind. What do you say? Why have you never heard of this? The truth is, most people don't talk about this part of the funeral. However, the rules of etiquette, even for funerals, say it's polite and respectful to send a thank-you card to everyone that came or did something for the funeral. It shows that even in your time of grief, you are polite, well bred, and thankful that you have people who care around you. Funeral thank you verses also show that you still want a relationship with everyone who was there.
What should funeral thank you verses say? How are you suppose to sound sincere and elegant while crying your heart out and reevaluating your entire life? Here are few ideas that will help. As with all thank-you cards, address it directly to a person or persons, such as Dear Dan and Rose , rather than The Bes family, or worse, The bessents. Start off with a comment on how glad you were to see them. Then continue with thanking them for what they did or the mere fact they came, and how much it meant to you for them to be there: “It helped so much that you took the time to send those beautiful flowers. It helped me a lot “. For direct family members: mother, father, sister, brother, etc. , explain how wonderful the person was and some of the great memories you have of him or them: Phil loved when he spoke of you, and I know it meant a lot to him that you were there. Finally, invite them to come over, call, e-mail etc. Feel free to call or e-mail me, I'd love to reminisce or just talk.
Not only will the recipient of these funeral thank you verses feel warmed and thought of, it will help you with the healing. They will have a new respect for you and all that you have done. Not only that, they will also see how well you shine, even in this time of trouble. The type of warmth and happiness that a thank-you card brings, is exactly what everyone needs to overcome that sense of loss.
You're right and it should be that way...