“Alexa - Plan My Mom's Funeral”

Does that sound crazy? Consider this: unless you have had discussions about your wishes, Alexa knows as much as your family members on the topic—maybe more (but that’s another discussion). The same goes for end of life care and what happens to your beloved springer spaniel.

I’d like to have The Conversation with you about growing old, dying, and death.  Yours in particular, but also the deaths of people you love, and mine as well.  And then I want to help you begin The Conversation with your family.

As a hospice chaplain for the last ten years, I’ve been surrounded by death and dying patients and their grieving, scared families every day. I’ve watched them grieve, and then be left alone with seeming chaos in their lives once someone has died.  They weren’t ready.  No one ever is. I’ve listened to them question their faith in God, and desperately try to keep their loved ones alive as long as possible. I’ve hoped with them and prayed with them.  It has been an honor.

What about you?  How often and on what occasions do you think about your death?  Have you taken some steps to get ready? Do you have a will? (80% of the people I worked with years ago as a financial advisor did not.)  How about a living will? And who’s your Health Care Proxy who will make medical decisions for you if you can’t -- like my father didn’t have?