Special Days Calendar

[MartyT]

The following request was posted by KayC in our Loss of a Spouse, Partner, or Significant Other forum on January. 10, 2009 http://hovforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?s=&a...ost&p=28112:

I often wished this site had a calendar that would have our "death date", our "anniversary", both of our birthdays...maybe even another place we could add a day that was special to us. It would be nice if we could remember those days to encourage or uplift each other...sometimes I find that people avoid saying anything on those days because they don't want to remind us...ha! Like we need reminding! We never forget, and someone acknowleging it actually makes me feel better, not worse. I wonder, would it be possible for this site to have such a thing as a calendar we could record these things on? It lets us know of our birthdays, but it'd be nice if at the bottom of that part of the site it would put the applicable events, not just birthdays.

In response to Kay’s request, I’ve just added a SPECIAL DAYS CALENDAR to our Discussion Groups site.

This calendar is in addition to the one we have already (which by default displays our members’ birthdays).

You can use this calendar to post the birth day and death day of your loved one, or any other day that was special for the two of you and that you’d like all of us to remember with you.

If you are not familiar with our Calendar feature, notice that, at the very top of the main page, on the right side of the page, there are links entitled: Calendar Members Search Help

If you click on the Calendar link, you’ll be taken to our Grief Healing Discussion Groups Calendar page, which displays the current month and the names of members whose birthdays occur in that particular month.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page, until you see in the middle blue bar, Calendar Jump.

Click on the down arrow, and in the drop-down list that appears, click on Special Days.

This takes you to our new calendar, created especially for the purpose that Kay describes above.

By default, the calendar displays the current month in the large box in the center and the previous, current and next month in smaller boxes along the left side.

You can advance through the months by clicking the << or >> links at the top, on either side of the name of the current month.

Each week has a >> icon on the left, which you can click to view that week in a diary format.

At the bottom of the page you can use the Calendar Navigation features to view the current month or the current week.

The Calendar Jump, also at the bottom of the page, allows you to select a very specific month and year to display, as well as choosing which calendar to display.

Events

You can add a new event to the calendar by clicking one of the three links in the bottom right section marked Add New Event.

An event can be:

• Single – Only occurs once

• Ranged – Occurs over several days/weeks/months

• Recurring – Occurs several times at regular intervals

Click on Add New Single Event, and you’ll be taken to the Manage Calendar Event page.

The first option is to add a title for the event. This is what will appear on the calendar view. (Example: John Doe, 2007).

Next, a date for the event is required. This is the calendar's date on which you want the title of your event to appear.

The next option asks you to choose which calendar to add this event to and whether you want this to be a public event or one that just you can see. Make sure that Special Days is the calendar you've selected.

Next you need to enter a description for the event. The rich text editor is the same as when you are adding or replying to a new topic. (You can add as much or as little text as you like; on the calendar itself, the title of your event will appear as a link to the text you've placed here.)

Finally, you can choose whether or not you wish to enable emoticons in the main body. If enabled, then any textual emoticons that have an icon will be converted to that.

You are cordially invited to begin using our Special Days calendar now, and if you have any trouble at all, please don’t hesitate to let me know, at tousleym@aol.com.

[kayc]

Thank you, Marty! I added George's Death Day, his Bdy, and our anniversary to the Calendar. I hope I did it right, I notice only the title shows up so I altered it accordingly.

[MartyT]

Dear Ones,

I'm pleased to see that some of you have already begun using our Calendar feature. Please note, however, that now we have TWO calendars we can use: the Grief Healing Discussion Groups Calendar AND the Special Days Calendar, and you must choose which calendar you intend to use before you post your event. When you want to post an event (such as your loved one's birthday or death day), make sure that you have selected the Special Days Calendar instead of the other one, which by default shows the birthdays of all our registered (living) members.

Please read the instructions I've posted, and make sure you follow each step as written ~ otherwise you may find that your event is posted on the wrong calendar.

If you have any questions about this new feature, please don't hesitate to post them here, so we all can benefit from the same information!

[STARKISS]

Thank you Marty,

For allowing somewhere to be able to post the days that are important to us on this journey of grief... It also allows us to know that others are also dealing with grief too... It might help others to know what other people are doing on this certain days... Shelley

[lucia]

this is amazing!!

thankyou

[teny]

Dear Marty.I want to join calender but did not understand the way to doit.Please help me how to start .Thank you .TENY

[MartyT]

Teny, dear ~ please see the very first post in this thread (dated January 12), where you'll find directions on how to use the Special Days Calendar. If these directions don't answer your questions, please let me know, and I'll do whatever I can to assist you.

[MartyT]

Dear Ones,

In another post today, Wendy suggested that, along with adding your loved one's name to our Special Days Calendar, you might also want to light a virtual candle online. If you'd like to remember your loved one in this simple but very special way, take a moment to visit this site and follow the instructions you'll find there: Light a Candle Online

[Guest moparlicious]

Marty,

The Light A Candle is a splendid idea I love it, Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kim