plan my funeral

I’ve stalled on this completely. Once school lets out for the holidays I need to get this wrapped up!

I was reminded of this during my meeting at the home…a funeral or memorial service is not for the dead. Its for the living. While our basic wishes should be honored, we need to build in something for the living…be it a time to gather with others to remember, to grieve, then to begin to heal. I’ve been to so many funerals…the ones that were most touching were when friends and family had a chance to come forward with a story or a memory. One service I attended, the gentleman was a Broncos fan, so there were orange and blue balloons everywhere. There was one with a DVD slide show of great photos and yet another where the deceased was honored by playing his favorite CDs during the service. I think all of that helped folks to remember the good and fun things.

So I go to the funeral home and its acutally quite nice. The sales dude was awesome and patient, he asked me questions I would not have thought of myself. After a tour of the memorial garden (Im considering cremation) we completed a preplanning kit. Now I’m thinking about what kind of music, scripture, or poetry I might want read at my own service.

The best discovery – its not morbid! Its a gift to my family, that everything is already taken care of upfront – rather than under duress. I’m very glad I’m in this process.

I contacted a local funeral home and recieved some info via mail. It was very informative.

check this out:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/funerals/index.html

I attended a funeral on Wednesday. I’m going to a wake tonite (Thursday) and another funeral tomorrow (Friday). Two unrelated people, I am the lowest common denominator here.

Talk about a check in with my own mortality.

I read an article on Tuesday about a European woman who dropped dead after meticulously planning her own funeral – she was moved to do so after her husband died. Anyway, she dies at her own gravesite, a headstone with her name and birth year – but the death year is still blank. Authorities think she had a heart attack seeing that. On her person was a bag – and in that bag – her will.

I dont think I want to be that anal, but in light of how quickly we can be removed from our mortal coils, I would rather have everything detailed up front, saving my family from the madness that ensues at such a stressful and sad time in life.

I do not think this is morbid at all. I think its realistic. Future posts on this goal should be interesting. I’ll try to make it informative as well.