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Healthy or Not, Preplan Your Funeral!
As some of you know, I recently lost my mother unexpectedly last week. While I have been to funerals before, it was always for a friend, co-worker or obscure family member that I hardly knew. Never had I been to a funeral for someone as close as my mother.
I was scared as to what this one would bring. Sure, I was sad and still am, but I am the type that does not like to show his emotions openly to others. I went to the funeral home 30 minutes before the family was supposed to arrive so I could grieve in solitude.
When I arrived in the viewing area the first thing I noticed was that mom looked better than she had in years. The funeral home, O'Bryant O'Keefee, did an outstanding job preparing her and even made it look like she had teeth (She lost her teeth many years ago). I looked for several minutes waiting for her to breathe and open her eyes.
We, as a family, were able to grieve and not worry about the funeral arrangements because my mother took the time a few years ago to pre-plan her funeral. In this way she had a hand in everything from what she wore, the color of the casket, even the color of the flowers. She was even able to write her own obituary.
My point of this post is to suggest that everyone pre-plan your own funeral. It is a surprisingly simple thing to do and does not cost a lot to do so. Simply contact a local funeral home and they will come to your home and speak to you about everything you want. After everything is decided on, you will have the chance to pay for it in monthly installments. In this way you ensure that you get what you want at your funeral, right down to the music that is played. Another thing that doing this provides is the price of the funeral is locked in and will not change, even if your death does not occur for several years.
Pre-planning your own funeral may not be something you have ever thought of and it may even seem a bit morbid, but it allows your family to forget about making any arrangements and focus completely on their loss. It was a huge relief to us that everything was already in place for my mother and all we had to do was sign a paper authorizing her cremation.
I was scared as to what this one would bring. Sure, I was sad and still am, but I am the type that does not like to show his emotions openly to others. I went to the funeral home 30 minutes before the family was supposed to arrive so I could grieve in solitude.
When I arrived in the viewing area the first thing I noticed was that mom looked better than she had in years. The funeral home, O'Bryant O'Keefee, did an outstanding job preparing her and even made it look like she had teeth (She lost her teeth many years ago). I looked for several minutes waiting for her to breathe and open her eyes.
We, as a family, were able to grieve and not worry about the funeral arrangements because my mother took the time a few years ago to pre-plan her funeral. In this way she had a hand in everything from what she wore, the color of the casket, even the color of the flowers. She was even able to write her own obituary.
My point of this post is to suggest that everyone pre-plan your own funeral. It is a surprisingly simple thing to do and does not cost a lot to do so. Simply contact a local funeral home and they will come to your home and speak to you about everything you want. After everything is decided on, you will have the chance to pay for it in monthly installments. In this way you ensure that you get what you want at your funeral, right down to the music that is played. Another thing that doing this provides is the price of the funeral is locked in and will not change, even if your death does not occur for several years.
Pre-planning your own funeral may not be something you have ever thought of and it may even seem a bit morbid, but it allows your family to forget about making any arrangements and focus completely on their loss. It was a huge relief to us that everything was already in place for my mother and all we had to do was sign a paper authorizing her cremation.
Comment
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Comment by ernest dickinson on January 22, 2010 at 10:49pm -
I would add that, buying your cemetery plots before had if not part of the pre-paid funeral is a good idea. We have not pre-paid the funeral yet, but we have purchased our family plots. They are located in a rural area 100 miles outside of San Francisco, where we spent our summers, when I was a kid. It was also where my mother was raised, and where my parents met. Plots in rural areas are far cheaper than in urban areas, due to cheaper real estate prices. We lost many people in my extended family, but also my sister and father. Being prepared beforehand makes for less stress during the extremely stressful time of losing a loved one. During the pre-payment process, one can also set up plans for things like organ donation, etc by setting up an advanced directive, a living trust to put someone in control of your affairs (if thats best in your state, a will is best in a few states), and a power of attorney, so someone can make medical choices for you if you are unable to do so for yourself. A women's mother who was in a rest home had an infection, but the doctors thought it was some form of pneumonia and wouldn't do one test because, it was expensive. The woman's daughter insisted and used her power of attorney to back herself up. Her mother went from death's door, and lived another ten years. Reflecting on one's death can also help one reflect on the way one's relatives have expired, and to possibly make lifestyle changes, if your relatives died from preventable health problems, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, hypoglycemia, etc.
© 2012 Created by Chris Pirillo.
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