🐦‍⬛ Visible Friday #20: Let's Snuggle

Darling Vizzy D's:

Writing to you whilst utterly face planting into the weekend... You too?? But here I am, and here you are. Because if nothing else, we keep showing up for each other. Even if it's just a brief fleeting inbox exchange or a cyber hug, I'm here, and so are you. *HUG*

I actually have a jumble of things I wanted to offer this week and couldn't choose, so here's three quick tidbits:

🐦‍⬛ Dementia Friendly Funerals

I held a memorial today for a gentleman who filled his 89 years with all sorts of adventures. Until his sudden death a few weeks ago, he was the full time carer to his beloved wife of 63 years, who has dementia. It's the ultimate devastating scenario. She isn't retaining that he has died and keeps searching for him, but also has fleeting moments of acknowledging his death, then forgets, then remembers again. The whole family were devoted to creating a ceremony that best served her today, because they knew that's what their dad would have cared about most. It's such a tender, complex and delicate balance to get right.

Lucky for me, my dear colleague from the UK,

@Rosalie Kuyvenhoven

, passionately shares her expertise in this area and has an online class specialising in Dementia Friendly Funerals. I revisited her masterclass to bolster my preparation and it was wonderful, generous and helpful.

Details: https://ritualstoday.co.uk/product/online-training-dementia-friendly-funerals/

I wholeheartedly recommend Rosalie's training, and I want to ask you all: what hidden gems or areas of expertise do we have in this community that we could be learning from each other?

and/or: what area of this work could YOU be teaching/sharing?

🐦‍⬛ Facebook aka My Abandoned Digital Houseplant

Guys, are y'all on Facebook? I'll be honest, I loathe it. I create mostly for Insta and share the same content across Facebook and TikTok. I treat my Facebook page like an abandoned houseplant I've forgotten to water. Next minute, it's officially my biggest platform by followers.

TikTok = 10k.

Instagram = 21k.

Facebook ... 42k!

I've done nothing to push, pay for or attract that growth, but I sense it speaks volumes about who's actually using Facebook these days. It is largely a user group aged 60+, and it seems a lot of that crowd are understandably hungry for death literacy. So if you've also been neglecting your own digital houseplant aka Facebook, maybe give it some water this week.

🐦‍⬛ A Non-Deathy Recommendation For Your Ears

Because down time matters too. I've been enjoying a podcast called *The Secret World of Roald Dahl*, hosted by Aaron Tracy. It goes past Willy Wonka, Matilda and the BFG into the stranger parts of Dahl's life, his time as a WWII fighter pilot and a British intelligence operative with MI6, his years as a struggling Hollywood screenwriter, before he found his voice as a children's author in his mid forties. It doesn't shy away from the more troubling and controversial parts of who he was either - there's a whole episode exploring if you ever truly can separate the art from the artist... a good one for the ears if you need a break from death for a bit. Listen: https://open.spotify.com/show/5c7obu7LWKcDUFns2peHAb

Beaming you big hugs, deep rest & a virtual snuggle.

Only love,

Amy 🐦‍⬛

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🐦‍⬛ Visible Friday #20: Let's Snuggle