As loving family members, we still want to handle a funeral with our parents, spouse’s, children’s wishes being honored. To do that, a plan is necessary, no matter, how painful it can be to bring up. There are several ways to start the topic. The first one, that I want to look at today, is by telling a story. We all know that it can be easy to visualize an outcome by telling a story. To illustrate uncomfortable topics with my children about moral issues, when they were in middle school, (no details, here) I would tell a story about how another mother handled the topic with their children. OK, I was chicken. However, that approach works well, with this subject also. To start by saying, “Mom, I heard about a funeral that included a bagpiper at the conclusion of the service–Have you ever seen that before?, Would you want one of those? What else would you want to have?” Whether the response, “That’s lovely” or “That’s crazy”, you now have a starting point to get some information about what your mother would like at her funeral.
With a younger generation, I think that being direct, is probably more suited to them, but that is not saying that this isn’t a hard topic to bring up. My oldest son is in the Air Force, and when he was 21, he was going to “jump school” during a summer break. About a week, before he left, I told him that we were doing a funeral plan for him. He said “You have got to be kidding”. When I assured him that I wasn’t and that I had a funeral plan that I wanted to test out for my business (still 3 years away), while he was packing to go, I started asking him questions. Since, I knew all of the basic information, I went to “What kind of music do you want” Johnny Cash. ”What kind of flowers would you want” Wildflowers. ”Where do you want to be buried?” Not at a cemetery that was located at a busy, intersection, in our city. We then discussed what kind of burial arrangement would he want and he asked me what I wanted, another way for me to send the information to him. In my funeral plan, I include a question on life affirmations. What are some great memories? What haven’t you done that you have always wanted to do? I was enriched to get his answers on those questions. When I asked him, what are his favorite movies, then he asked me if I wanted to know his favorite books. When he offered me his favorite quotes, I said, “You have favorite quotes?” I learned a lot about him at 21, that I didn’t know. If the unthinkable had happened during the week at jump school, I would have known how to honor his life, befitting his wishes. At the end of our conversation, I was half laughing and half crying. He was completely laughing and I told him “I don’t know about you, but I feel better”
If your parent, becomes defensive, then it is time to save the conversation for another time. This usually happens with a direct/frontal question. But by bringing the conversation up with a story or example of another experience, one that you would or wouldn’t choose, that is a soft way to look for direction for your parents. If you have parents over the age of 60, they have experienced the loss of parent, friends and/or friends that have lost children. They have seen or have feelings about what is and isn’t right for them. The direction, you get from those conversations, will be a gift, when it comes time for you to direct their final wishes.