Words

As professionals, sometimes we like to borrow from others, use trusted phrases, or go with something tried and true. Why reinvent the wheel, right?

When I have spoken on death and grief in a professional context, I have invariably been asked by my peers: "what do YOU write in a condolence card?"... After all, wouldn't it be great to have a cheat sheet?

I've written about this before as well and generally I would say that whatever you write has to be authentic to your relationship. If you have a story about the deceased, you should share it. Stay away from trite platitudes ("he/she is with the Creator now" is not helpful, cannot be defined as being helpful by anyone other than the person grieving). 

Here's another hot tip - its about them, not you... so in the end, the words you use isn't really all that important. 

BUT... I do like to save things that resonate with me, in case I need the words personally some day. In my last post I wrote about Chris Cuomo's show. On that same episode, he shared a quote from US Presidential hopeful Joe Biden. It's an interesting one... does it resonate for you? 

“There will come a day, I promise you, when the thought of your son, or daughter, or your wife or your husband, brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye. It will happen. My prayer for you is that day will come sooner than later.”

― Joe Biden