A few weeks ago, I had the honor of speaking to a group of retired insurance professionals at their monthly meeting.

Prior to my presentation, one of my hosts shared a few details of her father’s service with me. It was such a fun story that I asked if she’d be willing to share it with me so, I could share it with you. I am grateful she said yes.

Here’s Patricia’s story of her father’s #celebration. May it give you some #inspiration or at the very least, some laughs.

My Dad was 93 when he passed away. He had not been up to par for about six months, but still getting around. He had five children. When he passed, my sister called me and said, “what should I do?”

My Dad had already gone to the funeral home in Savannah and arranged his funeral and had paid for everything and written his own obituary. He had also been to the cemetery, in Brunswick, GA., which is where he wanted to be buried along with my Mother and his parents and two ex-wives. It was a pretty crowded plot and a very, very old cemetery. He had left instructions of which church to contact for graveside services.

Next, he left instructions, and money, for a luncheon in Brunswick at an old restaurant that we would all go to when we would meet in Brunswick, from time to time to visit those that had passed. He also wanted us to invite some of his classmates that he kept in touch with. Before the service the priest asked one of my sisters, who are all these people that are buried here? She excused herself and said she would be right back she had to go help her Aunt. So, the priest looked at me and said, “well you are the oldest, you must know who all these people are in this plot.” I thought of a polite way to answer …since my Dad had been married five times and I didn’t want to get into that, I answered, “Well, Father, let’s just say we are not the Waltons.” He said, oh…oh…I understand. (It was sort of funny. You had to know my Dad…He did it his way!)

The service concluded with that song by Frank Sinatra. And all the family returned to the cemetery, after the luncheon and drank the beer in honor of Daddy…he paid, of course.

I’ll leave you with Patricia’s note to me…

“I was not aware that my dad had done all the things he did…it would have been nice if he would have shared this with us, as you said, “the gift of conversation” is special.”

Gift 1: Doing the pre-planning

Gift 2: “The gift of conversation”…talking to your loved ones about your wishes and plans

Want some help with pre-planning your celebration?

In the Missing Pieces Plan we have a Guide to help you pre-plan your celebration.

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Sending love!

Jody