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My book is now available on both iTunes and Nook

You may now download Creating Your Own Funeral or Memorial Service: A Workbook from iTunes (e.g., for iPhone®, iPad®, or iPod touch®) and from Barnes & Noble for Nook™. For iTunes, click here. For Nook, click here.

Just in time for the 12th annual Create a Great Funeral Day on October 30! I will post more about the holiday later this month.

And why would you want to design your own end-of-life event, regardless of your health or age? In brief, some of those benefits are:

• 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.

Past posts about creating your own funeral can be found here. Click to watch a recent interview of me about the book and holiday; the interview was done by Gail Rubin, author of A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die.

Funeral Crasher Reports on 30 Funerals in 30 Days Challenge

News release (SEO Press Releases):

ALBUQUERQUE, NM, December 1, 2010 — After 30 funerals in 30 days, funeral planner Gail Rubin reports there is no shortage of people dying, and that creative memorial events are a growing trend.

Like the characters from the cult film Harold and Maude, Rubin attended an Albuquerque-area funeral or memorial service daily. The difference is she posted stories about each event every day at her blog The Family Plot starting on October 30. She is also the author of A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die.

“As the Grateful Dead sang, what a long, strange trip it’s been,” said Rubin. “The funeral really is for the family and friends closest to the person who died, to offer support to those who grieve. Whether it was a gathering of two-dozen people or eight hundred, every event was an opportunity for the community to show their care and express condolences.”

Among the most memorable were services with two pews of Red Hat Society ladies in full regalia, a Harley Davidson motorcycle in a funeral chapel, an artist’s remembrance that featured her favorite lemon meringue pie, and a funeral for a fallen police officer.

Funeral favors are a growing trend. Rubin collected four rubber wristbands, one bubble blowing vial, a

Beginning on this year's Create a Great Funeral Day, woman plans to attend 30 funerals in 30 days

Gail Rubin has a new book A Good Goodbye coming out soon on how to plan your own funeral. In honor of the book, she will begin on October 30, Create a Great Funeral Day, to attend 30 funerals of people she does not know, and then write about each event on her blog. My little holiday is certainly getting more attention this year!

When I wrote Creating Your Own Funeral or Memorial Service, there was no other book devoted entirely to how to plan a good event well in advance of your death. Now there are several. I hope my friends who thought I was crazy now realize I was just ahead of my time.

Blog Glob: "8 Steps to Prepare for Your Final Act"

Excerpt:

This year, about 2.5 million Americans will die. In rough numbers, that's nearly 50,000 a week—a lot of people, with viewings, religious observances, funerals, obituaries, estates, family reunions, and a host of related decisions and encounters. In many households, this time can be made even more difficult by one's failure to plan for death and to involve family members in the process. Relatives may even reject efforts to engage in such a discussion. It's uncomfortable, it can be emotionally painful, and it can often expose family fault lines that fracture easily.

Yet, as with many important decisions, it is a mistake to wait until the last minute to deal with your final wishes. "We all know we're going to die. We just don't believe it," says Kurt Soffe, whose family has been in the funeral home business in Utah since 1915. Here are several steps and questions to help you prepare.

...

With all due respect to the loved ones and friends you leave behind, it's your life, and the way you want to recognize the end of your life is up to you. By having a plan that thoughtfully reflects your wishes, you'll not only do this but also lift a lot of stress and worry from the loved ones you leave behind. That's not a bad final gift for you to make.

Click to read the rest of "8 Steps to Prepare for Your Final Act" (U.S. News & World Report).

No, you can't plan a funeral in 5 minutes

October 30 is the 10th annual Create a Great Funeral Day. I register the holiday each year to make it official. Now it seems a company has issued a press release changing the name of the holiday to Create a Great Funeral Plan Day—and saying you can create a funeral in 5 minutes! Having taught courses in designing your own funeral or memorial service, I know how time-consuming it is, partly because of the thought and care involved.

The reason I did not name the holiday as this company has renamed it is because "funeral plan" means to many people decisions about matters other than the event itself, such as cremation or burial, payment provisions, etc. My holiday is to remind people of the benefits of designing the actual ritual or party or funeral or service or whatever they choose. It has little to do with the other details.

The first paragraph of the press release:

It's no trick or treat: October 30th is the 10th annual Create a Great Funeral Plan Day - got plans? Americans can easily tackle this vital task with just five minutes at the computer using Funeralwise.com's Quick Plan feature.

Unfortunately this release has been picked up several places. I hope people don't get the idea that making decisions about a funeral is a quick process. It is not a drive-through undertaking.

Note: I do like people spreading the word about the holiday and its above-stated purpose. Please use the correct name though.

Don't forget: October 30 is the 10th annual Create a Great Funeral Day

 

It is hard to believe that nearly 10 years have passed since I registered that holiday. For those of you who don't know what the day is about, from a prior post:

 

Several times I have blogged here about the many benefits to your clients and their families (and to you and your family) of designing your own unique end-of-life event. Here are a couple of those posts to read more:

• Heaven must be missing a lawyer: Kind-hearted counsel for some clients
• The marriage is ending: Are your clients marking this or any other changes with rituals?
• 7th Annual Create a Great Funeral Day: A gift, not a joke
• Reminder: The benefits of you (and your clients) designing your own funerals or memorial services

In brief, some of those benefits are:

• 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.

Have you planned yours yet? Doing so is a good idea regardless of your health or age. Try it!

Toyota plant in Kentucky has a 5-person outreach team for employees' life events

A list of some of the ways the team at the Georgetown plant serves fellow employees was included in an article "Toyota's outreach is model program" (Lexington Herald-Leader):

• Attending the funeral and visitation of any plant employee or their children or spouse that are within a three-hour drive of Georgetown. They also attend either the funeral or visitation of parents, siblings and in-laws who pass away.
• Ordering flowers for funerals and for employees who are hospitalized for three days or longer.
• Ordering food for families during funerals. The group once made an order for a family in St. Lucia, in the Caribbean.
• Delivering meal vouchers to the families of those hospitalized.
• Ordering gifts for weddings (crystal dishes) and births (photo albums).

The team is very busy.

During Toyota's last fiscal year, which runs from April to March, the team handled 1,086 deaths; 369 hospitalizations; seven home destructions, in which they helped with finding lodging and new uniforms; 108 births; and 78 weddings.

In the near future, this program may expand beyond Kentucky.

The program originated in 1999 at the Georgetown plant and might soon be expanded to all of Toyota's North American manufacturing plants.

The team's role is valued by the Toyota plant.

And even as the recession slammed the automotive industry in the past year, Toyota has stuck by the program.

"Back when this really hit," said spokesman Rick Hesterberg, "the company looked at every program we have and put everything on the table to see where we could do some cost containment. And the decision was this is a program that needed to stay.

"You just can't take for granted what it means to people."

Read more about the program.

Image credit: Lexington Herald-Leader.

Have you planned your final sendoff yet?

We are still more than 6 months away from the 10th annual Create a Great Funeral Day but here's a video of which I just became aware on the topic of planning your end-of-life event. Click to play Stairway to Heaven? Planning Your Own Final Sendoff (219 Magazine).

In it, you will see still another online alternative to my Creating Your Own Funeral or Memorial Service: A Workbook. So many resources available today for planning your event. Back when I wrote my workbook, many people thought me very odd. I got more than a few raised eyebrows.

New book: Another one on designing your own funeral

Grave Expectations: Planning the End Like There's No Tomorrow is what the title says: A book on how to plan your end-of-life event. Since I have written a book on that topic too, I like to follow what comes out on funeral designing. When I wrote my book over a decade ago, many people thought I was eccentric at best. Now that boomers are getting a tad bit older, I am guessing we will see more create-your-own-funeral books being published.

Click for a list of benefits of planning your own funeral.

Read an excerpt from the new book at "Funky funeral? ‘Recipes’ for your remains" (msnbc.com).

Note (added January 27, 2009, 11:30 AM Mountain): The book's Web site.

Today is the 9th annual Create a Great Funeral Day: Might be a good time to make this suggestion to some clients (and yourself)

Several times I have blogged here about the many benefits to your clients and their families (and to you and your family) of designing your own unique end-of-life event. Here are a couple of those posts to read more:

• Heaven must be missing a lawyer: Kind-hearted counsel for some clients
• The marriage is ending: Are your clients marking this or any other changes with rituals?
• 7th Annual Create a Great Funeral Day: A gift, not a joke
• Reminder: The benefits of you (and your clients) designing your own funerals or memorial services

In brief, some of those benefits are:

• 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.

Have you planned yours yet? Doing so is a good idea regardless of your health or age. Try it!

Note (added November 11, 2008, 8:05 PM Mountain): One woman planning her own funeral. Excerpt:

Plans are underway for a "Plan Your Own Funeral" party the end of November. While this might sound morbid, it will allow Mom to take time to let us know what her wishes are for her memorial service. This will help us so we won't have to make some very important decisions in the immediate hours and days after her death and while going through the initial stages of grieving.

Image credit: FreeFoto.com.