It is hard to believe that so much time has passed since I first registered this holiday. Interest has grown and it seems that more and more people are designing their end-of-life events, regardless of their age or state of health.
Good! That was my goal in creating the holiday and in writing my book Creating Your Own Funeral or Memorial Service.
Why would someone create his or her event? Some of the benefits I have posted about in the past:
- You relieve those you leave behind of many decisions during their time of grief
- You give the bereaved the emotional satisfaction of knowing they are carrying out your wishes
- You may open up new areas of discussion with your family
- You are able to create an event that truly reflects your life
- Reviewing your life for the purpose of creating the service allows you to evaluate how you want to use your future
- And this gentle reminder of your mortality has an effect on your decisions about today.
Click to read my previous posts on creating your own funeral.
In honor of this holiday, Gail Rubin did something very unusual both last year and in 2011: She attended 30 funerals in 30 days! Click to read about this year's 30 funerals. You will see that she mentions "facelift funerals." Click to watch me explain the meaning of that phrase and why you would want to make sure yours is not a facelift funeral; at that link, you will also see Gail's extraordinary funeral-related garb.
And here's one of several recent articles about the holiday (this one from mysendoff.com).
Note: My book is available in hard copy, on iTunes for Apple products such as iPad, and on Nook.
Have you created your great funeral yet?
Note (added October 30, 2013): Click to hear an interview about Create a Great Funeral Day.
Image credit: Michelle Sutherland.
Comments