Hi everyone, It's Sam here, founder of SamFire Memorials. I thought I'd share my story of loss and how I came to want to help others feel comforted in their grief.

In 2013 I got a call to say that my dad had been taken to hospital after suffering a heart attack. I rushed to the hospital, 30 miles away, to find him laughing and joking as he always did and felt a rush of relief. We spent the evening talking to dad, making sure he had everything he needed for his overnight stay. I arrived home at around 10pm and as I walked in the door got a call to say that dad had passed after we left. This was my first major loss in life and I couldn't quite believe the overwhelming sense of emptiness and numbness, it really took me by surprise. I immediately wished I'd been more sympathetic when other people had told me that they'd lost a loved one. Now, I understand.

The grieving process took our family through some very rough times. Losing the head of the family leaves a tussle for leadership and soon relationships were frayed which is the last thing dad would have wanted.

Grief takes you to places you didn't know existed.

Finally, ten years on and we're all in a good place but its been a rollercoaster of emotions over a long period of time.

Mom and dads wedding, September 1963. We celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in September 2013 and took them to revisit their honeymoon destination of Weymouth late September. We are so grateful to have those amazing final memories as dad died 5th October, one week after our Weymouth holiday.

Dad was cremated although all of his ashes were interred in his grave. I'd never heard of memorial jewellery ten years ago but if I had, I'd have taken a lock of hair and asked for some ashes to be put aside. That way, we would have had the option even if we didn't want memorial jewellery at the time.

My next forum post will talk about my next devastating loss and how SamFire Memorials began.