Monday, March 1, 2010

Rest In Peace.........


I am thinking that I am not the only one that ponders the future and what it might hold for us. One of those things that the future holds for us is death. In the past 10 years I have watched as friends and family have continued on their journeys alone. Some older than me, some the same age and still some younger. When I reached this point in my life I started mentally making notes of things that I need to organize before I close my eyes one final time.

J.D. and I both wrote our wills quite a while ago and since then a lot has changed and we really need to write new ones. We keep saying that we need to take care of that, yet we continue to put it off. I remember when my father died there was no will and while we were all shaken from his death, we found ourselves sitting at the funeral home making decisions that we really didn't want to be dealing with at that time. Needless to say, along with a will we need to be organizing the details of our own funerals so that chore won't fall to our children either. They will have enough to deal with and won't need the added burden of selecting music, minister, flowers, etc.

Theresa and I discussed funerals once a long time ago and she mentioned what a difficult time she has attending funerals when the casket is open. I know that my oldest brother has a problem with that as well. After Theresa shared that with me, I tucked the info away in my memory bank. I also know that some people just are not able to let that loved one go unless they can see them in the casket. My plan is to have a closed casket, however for those that just need to take that final look, I will request an hour before the services when the casket will be open. I am even thinking about having a stick close by in case someone wants to poke me. Well, you never know!



Several years ago I read an article about Spiritual and Ethical Wills. The more I have researched this and thought about it, I decided this is something that I want to do. More important than anything of monetary value that I could leave my husband, children and grandchildren is a love letter to let them know what I really valued during my time here with them. I want to share with them how important it is to forgive those that we love when they hurt us. I want them to know how important each of them were to me. It is important to me that I have the chance to share with them what things lifted me spiritually and the times that I felt as if God had wrapped me with His Love and was guiding me safely through the dangers in my path. If you think this is something you might like to do just Google 'Spiritual and Ethical Wills'. There are quite a few sites out there that gives examples and can walk you through the process.

May your week be blessed with sunshine and warmth!


3 comments:

Mike Golch said...

Celestine and I sould do this as well.Hey stop by for a peice of our anaversary cake before it's all gone.

Akelamalu said...

MWM and I intend to organise our funerals and pay for them in the next couple of years so that our son's will not have to do it when the time comes. Of course we need to update our wills too as we now have five grandchildren to consider since we wrote the last ones. :)

Lee said...

So very well said. After having lost a son to an incurable disease years ago, I have learned to take life a bit more seriously. Yes, my wife and I have completed wills, power of attorney and health directives sometime back also need to bring them up to date.

(Jo - pls note my new blogspot addy)