Forest Funeral Home Cemetery & Cremation

03/22/2023

02/22/2023

𝗚𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗙 𝗡𝗘𝗘𝗗𝗦 𝗔 𝗩𝗢𝗜𝗖𝗘... 💕💜💕

02/19/2023

We were a sponsor of Spread the Love event on February 10th to help raise money for All Kids Win. What a great organization to help

Thank you to Forest Funeral Homes & Cemetery for being a Bronze Sponsor of our upcoming 2023 Spread the Love Luncheon on Feb. 10! If you haven't registered yet, don't wait! The event is almost full: https://bit.ly/3g1c8RU

12/23/2022

Let's come together this holiday season and remind others that they are not alone.

xo
Gabby

09/16/2022

We're privileged to be a sponsor of Zonta Club Of Olympia's Murder Mystery again this year.

THANK YOU! to Jill Lane and Forest Funeral Homes and Cemetery. Jill steps up each year and supports our (her) club as a sponsor. It is sincerely appreciated!

05/29/2022

05/08/2022

A friend of mine died last week...I met him through his wife, and we have been friends for many years. Every year on Christmas, our small friend group gathers for a gift exchange and some holiday cheer, and throughout each year we celebrated birthdays and had fun get-togethers. We did this every year for many years…

Last year at one of our gatherings, he shared something with me that he had written. It was his life story. As I read each word, I realized that after all these years, I knew absolutely nothing about him. It made me feel bad, because I realized that I had not made an effort to really get to know who he was, where he has been and what his life was like before I met him. This changed me in many ways.

I felt honored that he shared his story with me, I was happy to learn so much about him. Because of him I try a little harder to scratch the surface of the people I care for… I try to get to know them better, to ask about their own life stories.

As I think about him now, wiping away a few tears, I have more to say about him at his funeral than I would have if I hadn’t read his life story. I would much rather have him here with us now, I don’t want to have to go to his funeral, but I am honored to have known him, that he considered me a friend, and that I was given a glimpse into his life.

Think about the people in your life; your friends, your co-workers, the people you don’t see often (enough). Imagine what you would say about them after they have gone (a very long time from now). Do you know enough about them to share a deeper life story than how kind they were, or that you had fun together?

I invite you to follow my lead, and ask them about their life, their childhood, their first job, their first love, an instrument they might have played, and the things they are most proud of. I have a lot of friends, of which I am truly thankful for, but only a handful of them know me well enough to share details of my life. (Some things I want to keep to myself… they don’t need to know everything.) But I definitely appreciate the ones who have made the effort to get to know me... the below-the-suface me.

When we gather to celebrate my friend’s life, I will share the things he shared with me, I will go beyond him being a really nice guy, and a good husband to my friend… I will share about his life, his legacy and the things he was proud of. I want to honor him well, and say goodbye to the whole man, the man with a life story...

xo
Gabby

04/23/2022

And the very best thing you can do... for the people you love... is to have the conversation now, way before a diagnosis, illness or decline due to age happens.
Know their wishes way ahead of time...

Talk about it NOW.
Death does not happen faster because you talk about it. If you talk about it, if you learn to be more comfortable with the conversation, you will be able to honor the wishes of the people you love.

Let's talk about!
xo
Gabby

04/01/2022

03/31/2022

Around 3am this morning my grief hit me hard, out of nowhere... I just sobbed... but it felt good to feel. I wrote this poem after.
I know many of you know this feeling well, so while this is for me... it is also for you.

xo
Gabby

Sadness is woven deep inside of me
❤️

I woke up early this morning
With the reminder that you are no longer here
I felt this sudden sense of sadness
And my eyes filled up with tears

The sobs are much quieter now
As if I am keeping them to myself
It is as though the ache I feel when I think of you
Is stored safely on a shelf

I can reach for it when I need to
Or pretend it isn’t there
But sometimes it sneaks up on me
A reminder that my sadness is everywhere

It’s in the songs that I hear playing
It’s in the shows that I see
It’s everything, and everywhere
It’s woven deep inside of me.

Sadness stays forever
It is never going to leave
Sometimes I am okay with it
But other times I cannot breathe

As I lay in bed and cried today
I whispered out your name
I told you that I missed you
That life will never be the same

The sadness will never leave me
Nor will the love I have for you
I’ll take it off the shelf again
It’s what I need to do

I have to work through this
All the feelings and my pain
Tears are falling from my eyes
Like a stormy winter rain

But that for me is healing
It brings comfort from the start
In many ways, each time I cry
It’s as though you are visiting from my heart

As I wipe away my tears
And take care of myself
I’ll say goodbye (again) for now
And put you back upon my shelf

Written by Gabrielle Elise Jimenez

Please visit my website for more poems and blogs:
www.thehospiceheart.net

03/22/2022

Someone asked me how she can help a friend who recently lost her husband. I reminded her to check in often, and be there for her in whatever ways she needs. I also reminded her that the one thing we never forget, is the day we lose someone we love. That date on the calendar is forever imbedded in our memory, and year after year when everyone else forgets... we remember.

What I do, is add the date to my phone with a reminder every year so that at the very least, I check in on the anniversary...

Grief never leaves... our role, is to remember, and to be there for them year after year... after year.

xo
Gabby