The Funeral.com Journal

Resources to help you create tributes as unique as the people (and pets) you love. Learn how engraving, photos, colors, and symbols add meaning; discover scattering rituals and at-home memorial ideas. We focus on the details that matter—because small choices can carry a lifetime of comfort.

Grief and Sleep Problems: Night Waking, Dreams, and Practical Ways to Rest More Deeply

Grief and Sleep Problems: Night Waking, Dreams, and Practical Ways to Rest More Deeply

If you’re grieving and sleep has become strange—hard to enter, hard to stay in, full of jolts and vivid dreams—you’re not imagining it. Grief changes your nervous system. It changes...

Ambiguous Loss: Grieving When There’s No Body, Clear Ending, or Traditional Funeral

Ambiguous Loss: Grieving When There’s No Body, Clear Ending, or Traditional Funeral

When someone is gone—but not fully gone in the way our brains expect—grief can feel like it has nowhere to land. There’s no hospital discharge summary, no funeral date that...

When a Death Is Expected After a Long Illness: Fatigue, Relief, and Complicated Emotions

When a Death Is Expected After a Long Illness: Fatigue, Relief, and Complicated Emotions

When someone you love has been ill for a long time, the idea of their death can hover in the background for months or years. You may have braced yourself...

Exotic Pet Loss: Why Grieving a Reptile or Bird is Valid

Exotic Pet Loss: Why Grieving a Reptile or Bird is Valid

When someone loses a parrot who greeted them every morning for twenty years, or a bearded dragon whose quiet presence carried them through depression, the grief can be surprisingly intense—and...

What Is the Point of a Memory Box?

What Is the Point of a Memory Box?

Grief can feel overwhelming, and finding a way to hold onto memories without being consumed by them is often challenging. A memory box provides a personal and intentional space to...

Why Do People Wear Urn Necklaces?

Why Do People Wear Urn Necklaces?

There’s a moment that sneaks up on a lot of families after cremation. The service is over. The calls slow down. The house gets quiet again. And the reality hits...

What to Do with Their Belongings: To Donate, Keep, or Throw Away?

What to Do with Their Belongings: To Donate, Keep, or Throw Away?

In the days after a pet dies, grief rarely arrives as one clean emotion. It comes in waves—sadness, numbness, relief if they were suffering, guilt about decisions, and a quiet...

Creating a Ritual: Lighting a Candle Every Monday

Creating a Ritual: Lighting a Candle Every Monday

The first Monday after a pet dies can feel strangely loud. The weekend is gone, routines restart, and the places your companion used to “be” in the week suddenly stand...

Journaling Prompts to Help Process the Loss of a Companion Animal

Journaling Prompts to Help Process the Loss of a Companion Animal

The day you bring your pet’s ashes home is often quieter than you expect. Not quieter emotionally—just quieter in the house. The leash still hangs by the door. The water...

Adopting After Loss: Dealing with the Fear of Losing Another

Adopting After Loss: Dealing with the Fear of Losing Another

The first time you consider adopting again after a profound pet loss, the fear doesn’t usually announce itself with drama. It arrives quietly, disguised as “being responsible,” as “doing more...

The Science of Energy: Where Does the Love Go When They Die?

The Science of Energy: Where Does the Love Go When They Die?

There’s a particular kind of silence that settles in after a death—after the calls have been made, after the first wave of condolences, after you’ve stared at the same photo...

Signs from the Other Side: Stories of After-Death Communication

Signs from the Other Side: Stories of After-Death Communication

When a pet dies, the house gets quieter in a way that feels almost physical. The water bowl is still there. The favorite spot on the couch still holds the...

Small Animal Loss: Grieving Hamsters, Rats, and Guinea Pigs

Small Animal Loss: Grieving Hamsters, Rats, and Guinea Pigs

The first thing most people notice isn’t the moment your small pet dies. It’s the quiet that follows. The wheel doesn’t turn at midnight. The water bottle stays perfectly still....

Men and Pet Loss: Breaking the Stigma of Male Grief

Men and Pet Loss: Breaking the Stigma of Male Grief

He didn’t cry at the vet’s office. He stood straight, signed the paperwork, carried the leash out like it still had a job to do—and then he drove home with...

Pet Loss and Workplace Compassion: How Employers Can Support Staff

Pet Loss and Workplace Compassion: How Employers Can Support Staff

When an employee returns to work after losing a pet, the grief often arrives quietly first. It shows up in small pauses over email, in a sudden need to step...

Grieving a Childhood Pet as an Adult: Why the Pain Resurfaces

Grieving a Childhood Pet as an Adult: Why the Pain Resurfaces

You can be decades removed from the day you said goodbye, and still be caught off guard by how quickly your chest tightens when you see a dog that looks...