After losing your mom, Mother’s Day comms are forever complicated

We buried my mom on Friday, April 20^th, 2018, three days after she died.

I’d spent the few days prior in full-on communicator mode, drafting mom’s obit, working with The Miami Herald on edits and coordinating with family flying in for the funeral. It wasn’t until after the service that the period of mourning truly began.

Jews call the week after burial shiva, which means seven in Hebrew. The ritual of sitting shiva encourages communication, conversation and dialogue between family, friends and loved ones of the deceased.

My childhood home was filled with familiar and unfamiliar faces alike, bringing platters of food, helping keep watch over the home and checking in on my dad, my brother and me while swapping stories and remembrances of Mom. Those remembrances give added meaning to a hallowed Jewish message of bereavement: “May her memory be a blessing.” The ritual of shiva is an exercise in empathetic communication, a mindful dialogue, a time-tested way to facilitate healing.