Funeral homes will make sure your funeral is just the way you wanted. However, you’ll need to give them and your family some help. How do you start planning your funeral today?
What music would you want to hear if you were attending your funeral?
Perhaps you’ve jokingly said as you heard a favorite piece of music played, “I want this song at my funeral.” You get to choose the funeral you want, so the first, and probably easiest, step Is to document the music you would want to hear playing at your funeral.
Are there significant passages of prose or poetry that speak to your heart and soul that you’d want read at your funeral?.
Do you have favorite Bible scriptures that you want read at your funeral? List them out. If you want a portion of the service to be religious, then document what you want to be said and give scriptures that make those points so that the person who will be doing this part of the service – whether it’s a pastor or a friend – has everything needed to do it the way you want.
What is the parting thought that you want left with people when they leave your funeral service? This is your last chance to say whatever you’ve got to say, so take advantage of it!
Do you want an obituary? What do you want it to say? Write it down. You, better than anyone else, can write the story of your life you want told at the end of your life. Many obituaries now include humor, which is a delightful surprise to those who will read them.
A sample from a North Carolina woman’s December 24, 2018 obituary can give you an idea of how to add humor to your obituary: “Having lived one day shy of 65 years, Martha has decided to ‘get on up outta here!’ A loving Mimi, decent mother, fair wife, bad cook, and horrible driver, Martha loved teaching, her garden, smoking cigarettes, watching TV, and sitting on the couch. She hated computers, dirty laundry, negotiation, and doing things on other people’s terms. Preceded in death by a bunch of people, most noticeably her husband Ernie, who has most definitely already gotten the party started, she will be welcomed (wherever) with open arms.”
Do you want to cremated or buried? If you want to be cremated, what do you want done with the cremains? If you want to be buried, where do you want to be buried?
Do you have burial insurance? Make sure your loved ones know where to find it (as well as all those other important documents like life insurance policies, wills, and financial and property assets paperwork).
You can a funeral just the way you want, using a broad outline that gives your family leeway in the decision-making or defining every little detail so all they have to do is follow it. But you should start working on it now, because none of us knows how much time we have allocated to us, and there’s no time like the present.
For confidence that funeral homes will give you the funeral you want, depend on our compassionate and experienced team at Hopler & Eschbach. You can visit our funeral home at 483 Chenango St., Binghamton, NY 13901, or you can call us today at (607) 722-4023.