Owens Memorial Services

07/31/2026

ALEXANDRIA, IN – Michael David “Mike” Smith, 79, passed away on Thursday, July 30, 2026, at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie following an extended illness.

He was born on January 18, 1947, in Anderson to Vernon and Virginia (Scantland) Smith. He was a graduate of Alexandria-Monroe ...

07/31/2026

Here is today's thought to encourage you on your grief journey...

Some days, life whispers. Working in end-of-life care has taught me to listen…

Not every message arrives with urgency.
Sometimes it comes as a feeling you can't quite explain. A quiet nudge. A thought that keeps returning. A longing you can't seem to silence. An ache that tells you something isn't quite right, even when everything looks fine from the outside.

I have been thinking a lot about those whispers lately.

Looking back, I can see them everywhere.
There were whispers inviting me toward a different career.
Whispers encouraging me to trust myself.
Whispers that gently nudged me toward people, places, and opportunities that would eventually change my life.

I didn't always listen.

Sometimes I was too afraid.
Too busy.
Too certain that I already knew what my life was supposed to look like.

But here's what I have learned, life doesn't always shout.
In fact, I think it whispers because it invites us rather than pushes us.

Sometimes the whisper is telling us to have that medical concern checked out.
Sometimes it's asking us to leave a relationship that no longer feels safe.
Sometimes it's inviting us to mend one.
Sometimes it reminds us to check in on someone.
Sometimes it's nudging us toward a new career, a new friendship, a new home, or simply a new way of seeing ourselves.

The whisper is different for each of us.

Looking back, I don't wish I had lived my life differently. Every step, even the difficult ones, helped shape the person I am today. I have no desire to rewrite my story.

But moving forward...
I want to become someone who listens more carefully.
Someone who doesn't dismiss the quiet voice simply because it isn't loud.
Someone who trusts that not every answer arrives with certainty, and that sometimes the smallest whisper can lead to the most beautiful change.

Perhaps that's what wisdom is.
Not having all the answers... but learning to recognize the whispers when they come.

xo
Gabby
www.thehospiceheart.net

07/30/2026

Here is today's thought to encourage you on your grief journey...

07/29/2026

Here is today's thought to encourage you on your grief journey...

I wish I had understood that someday was not promised.

This feeling hit me so hard after my loved ones died. Every plan we made, every trip we talked about, and every small thing we thought we had time for was suddenly gone. In an instant, all of those future moments disappeared. Realizing I would never get the chance to do any of it with them wrecked me.

It also brought so much regret. I thought about the times I let work, errands, responsibilities, or being busy come before spending time with them. I believed there would be another day, another weekend, another chance.

Most of us do.

The missed moments can bring a very specific kind of grief. We look back and think about everything we would have done differently if we had known. Of course we would have chosen more time with them. Of course we would have said yes more often. Of course we would have understood how precious those ordinary moments were.

But we were human beings living ordinary human lives. We did not know what was coming. We believed in later because that is how most of us get through the day. Grief makes us painfully aware that time is not endless and that the future we counted on was never guaranteed.

What we would give now for one more day, one more conversation, one more chance to choose them over everything else.

Eventually, and only when we are ready, we may begin to carry them into the life we are still living. We cannot make new memories with them in the way we wanted, but we can do things in their honor. We can visit the place they wanted to see, choose something they loved, tell their stories, or live in ways that keep their memory present.

None of this erases the grief or gives us back the time we lost. But it gives the love somewhere to go. Learning to live after loss sometimes means finding new ways to include them in a future they should have been here to share.

If regret is part of your grief, you are not alone. You loved them with the knowledge you had then. You did not know someday would not come.

07/28/2026

SUMMITVILLE, IN – Velma J. (Dickerson) Watson, 103, entered peace and rest from
from Elwood Health and Living on Monday, July 27, 2026, following an extended illness.

She was born in Boone Township on October 23, 1922, to Lawrence and Marjorie (Woodruff) Dickerson and was a lifetime area r...

07/28/2026

Here is today's thought to encourage you on your grief journey...

Grief does not ask permission... for anything.

Grief crashes into your day without warning. There is no heads-up and no countdown. Sometimes all it takes is a memory, a sound, a thought, or one small reminder, and suddenly you are right back in the pain of the loss.

You can try to plan your life around grief, but grief does not care what is on your calendar. It does not care that you were having a decent morning. It does not care that someone is watching or that you really need to keep it together. Grief shows up when it shows up.

You cannot outrun grief, and you cannot outsmart it. Some days, you survive by breathing. Some days, you get one thing done. Some days, you cry until you are completely spent. Learning to live after loss does not happen in a straight line, and no two grief days are exactly the same.

You do not owe anyone a neat version of your grief. You do not have to explain why today brought you to your knees when yesterday did not. You are responding to a loss that changed your entire reality.

There is nothing wrong with you. You are grieving. And some days, being in it is all you can do.

07/24/2026

Here is today's thought to encourage you on your grief journey...

Some days you can carry the grief. Some days the grief carries you.

There is so much pressure after loss to be consistent, to get better in a predictable upward line. But grief does not work that way. You may have a day when you go to work, fold the laundry, answer texts, and almost seem ok. Then the next day, you may stare at the wall and have no idea how to make yourself move.

That does not mean you are doing grief wrong. Functioning is not proof that you are healed, and falling apart is not proof that you are failing. Both are part of grieving someone you love. What looks like progress to other people may simply be you doing what has to be done while carrying more pain than anyone can see.

Some days, functioning is only a mask you put on because life still expects things from you. You answer the phone. You make the appointment. You show up. Then you go home and collapse because grief took everything you had.

If you are in bed today, if you have not brushed your teeth, eaten, or spoken to anyone, ok. That is where you are today. You are allowed to fall apart. You are allowed to come back together slowly, in whatever way learning to live after loss asks of you.

There will be days when you can manage more, and days when you cannot. You are not behind. You are not slipping backward. You are grieving, and you are not the only one getting through grief one hour at a time.

07/23/2026

ALEXANDRIA, IN - Cloyd Jackson "Jack" Pierce, 77, and Diana Sue (Penry) Pierce, 76, longtime residents of Alexandria, Indiana, have both entered into the presence of their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ in Florida where they have resided for several years.

Jack passed away on January 2, 2025,...

07/23/2026

Here is today's thought to encourage you on your grief...