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.

Gold Star Families: Who They Are, Support Protocols, and How to Show Respect - Funeral.com, Inc.

Gold Star Families: Who They Are, Support Protocols, and How to Show Respect

The people who become a Gold Star Family do not choose the title. It arrives in the moment a door opens, a phone rings, or a uniform appears on a front...

Pet Loss Support When You Live Alone: Practical Coping Options - Funeral.com, Inc.

Pet Loss Support When You Live Alone: Practical Coping Options

When you live alone, pet loss can feel louder—not because you loved your companion more than anyone else, but because your day-to-day life changes in a very physical way. The...

Returning to Work After a Death: Managing Brain Fog, Mistakes, and Office Expectations - Funeral.com, Inc.

Returning to Work After a Death: Managing Brain Fog, Mistakes, and Office Expectations

There is a particular kind of exhaustion that shows up when you return to work after a death. You may be standing in the same parking lot, opening the same...

Grief Coaching vs Therapy: Which One Do You Need—and How to Choose Safely - Funeral.com, Inc.

Grief Coaching vs Therapy: Which One Do You Need—and How to Choose Safely

After a death, people often tell you to “take it one day at a time,” but nobody hands you a map for the weeks that follow. You might be handling...

Grief Support Groups: Online vs In-Person—Pros, Cons, and How to Choose - Funeral.com, Inc.

Grief Support Groups: Online vs In-Person—Pros, Cons, and How to Choose

Grief can make you feel alone even when people are around you. A bereavement support group can be a practical bridge back to connection, because it’s one of the few...

Post-Traumatic Growth After Loss: Finding Strength Without Forcing a ‘Silver Lining’ - Funeral.com, Inc.

Post-Traumatic Growth After Loss: Finding Strength Without Forcing a ‘Silver Lining’

Grief has a way of making ordinary life feel unfamiliar. You may be handling calls, paperwork, and decisions you never wanted to learn—while also trying to eat something, sleep at...

The Dual Process Model of Grief: Why You Bounce Between Loss and “Getting Life Done” - Funeral.com, Inc.

The Dual Process Model of Grief: Why You Bounce Between Loss and “Getting Life Done”

One of the most confusing parts of grief is how inconsistent it can feel. One hour you’re teary and raw, thinking about what you wish you’d said. The next, you’re...

Finding Meaning After Loss: Understanding the “Sixth Stage of Grief” (David Kessler) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Finding Meaning After Loss: Understanding the “Sixth Stage of Grief” (David Kessler)

In the earliest days after a death, grief can feel like a world that has lost its gravity. Your body moves through the hours, but your mind keeps returning to...

Teen Grief: Why Risk-Taking, Anger, and Withdrawal Can Be Normal (and When to Get Help) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Teen Grief: Why Risk-Taking, Anger, and Withdrawal Can Be Normal (and When to Get Help)

The day your family loses a pet, the house changes shape. The routines that quietly held everyone together—morning feedings, the sound of paws on the floor, the automatic reach for...

Grief Triggers: Why Smells, Songs, and Seasons Hit So Hard (and How to Prepare) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Grief Triggers: Why Smells, Songs, and Seasons Hit So Hard (and How to Prepare)

A scent in the grocery store aisle. A song you didn’t choose. The first cool day that smells like October. For many people, these moments can bring grief back instantly—so...

Men and Grief: “Stay Strong” Culture, Emotional Shutdown, and Healthier Ways to Cope - Funeral.com, Inc.

Men and Grief: “Stay Strong” Culture, Emotional Shutdown, and Healthier Ways to Cope

There’s a particular kind of loneliness that can show up when a man is grieving. People may say the familiar lines—“stay strong,” “be the rock,” “take care of everyone”—and sometimes...

Empty Nest Syndrome: When a Life Transition Feels Like Grief (and How to Adjust) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Empty Nest Syndrome: When a Life Transition Feels Like Grief (and How to Adjust)

The day the last box leaves the hallway can be surprisingly quiet. The house still looks like your home, but it sounds different—no footsteps down the stairs, no backpacks dropped...

Estrangement Grief: Mourning Someone You Didn’t Speak To (and the Guilt That Can Follow) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Estrangement Grief: Mourning Someone You Didn’t Speak To (and the Guilt That Can Follow)

When an estranged relative dies, the grief often arrives without a clean storyline. You may feel sadness and anger in the same hour. You may feel relief and then hate...

LGBTQ+ Grief and Exclusion: When You’re Left Out of Obituaries, Funerals, and Family Rituals - Funeral.com, Inc.

LGBTQ+ Grief and Exclusion: When You’re Left Out of Obituaries, Funerals, and Family Rituals

There are losses that break your heart, and then there are losses that break your trust in the world around you. For some LGBTQ+ grievers, death is followed by a...

Identity Loss After a Spouse Dies: “Who Am I Now?” and How to Rebuild a Life With Meaning - Funeral.com, Inc.

Identity Loss After a Spouse Dies: “Who Am I Now?” and How to Rebuild a Life With Meaning

When your spouse dies, grief is not only about missing the person you love. It can feel like the ground under your life has shifted. The routines you built together,...

Masked Grief: When Grief Shows Up as Physical Symptoms Instead of Feelings - Funeral.com, Inc.

Masked Grief: When Grief Shows Up as Physical Symptoms Instead of Feelings

Sometimes grief does not arrive as tears, sadness, or the kind of emotion you can name on demand. Sometimes it arrives as a body that will not settle—headaches that linger,...