The purpose of a funeral or memorial service is to allow you to remember,
celebrate and mourn the life of a beloved. This book can help you do that.
In addition, it can help you understand what needs to be done and to do it
in a style that will comfort and sustain you. It is about creating goodbyes
that are worthy of the people we loved, that will help heal the aching
hearts and empty spaces.
Use this book to:
- Create a memorial or funeral service that is appropriate to your loved one
- Negotiate the painful tasks that must be attended to when someone dies
- Understand the grief cycle you must live through
It includes:
- A useful structure to build a ceremony on
- Ideas and examples of things you might want to do or say
- Suggestions for dealing with special circumstances
- A look at different religious and cultural traditions
- Ways to comfort the grieving -- and things you should never say
- Suggestions about initiating phone calls and writing obituaries
- Reflections on the hard topics that death brings to our lives
- Thoughts about getting your own affairs in order
