Memorials & Funerals

     In my last post, I discussed buying a graveplot in the Indiana cemetery where all my family is buried. 


     In this post I want to emphasize how important it is to make pre-arrangements for your own funeral or memorial. I have been discussing this with a storytelling friend of mine who is a "civil celebrant" in another state. He says, "It's astonishing to me how little attention we pay to the arrangements for our own funerals. It should be a part of estate planning and someone who understands ritual and story--whether a minister or civil celebrant--should say the words and as the ancients did, celebrate the songs that have been sung." 

I believe that the "songs that have been sung" is a metaphor for the life events the deceased participated in. 


My friend said he had recently attended the wake for a jazz organist, and the jazz community who was present took turns playing the organ. Then two more musicians joined, one of them playing the alto sax and the other playing the trombone, and the wake turned into a final blues melody of "I'll be seeing you."


     My friend went on to comment, "Now that's the way I want to be sent off. Make me a pillow of music and sing me to my final sleep."


     I'll certainly will be thinking about this advice and my own progress in finding the right words to express "me" and making my pre-finals.


Mimi