The Funeral's The Easy Part

It was a source of contention in our house. Last year, it was suggested I look into purchasing a funeral plan. I got my back up. I was annoyed. I was angry at the suggestion that I should have to go and spend money that could be used on other essential things just to prepay a funeral. I was certain that with assets, pensions, bank accounts, and government funding, this could all be covered quite nicely if and when necessary....well, not if, but when.

Begrudgingly, I trekked to the local funeral facility and purchased that which they sell...a funeral. In addition, I bought dead body travel insurance. Now my corpus, which is no longer all that delecti, can be shipped back from anyplace on the planet at the low, low price of free. At last, free travel, no air miles required.

Two things have come of this activity. I am now obsessed with death and dying. Rarely does a day go by when I don't think about or plan for my own demise. I have come to realize that the clock is ticking.

The second is that my survivors will now have no issues since everything is done for them. Right? Wrong!

I know for a fact, tha't the funeral planning and its eventual execution is nothing compared to what follows. Nobody warns us of the complexities involved with owning anything from a driver's license, credit card, real estate, bank account, furnishings, or those multitudinous items which we deem valuable but are only so in our own minds. It's even worse if a person owns more than one of some of the aforementioned items. I believe that the hassle doesn't double but becomes multiplied many fold with each additional "thing".

How do I know all this? I have recently been enlightened by becoming co-executor of a will. Despite the fact that the the individual had downsized to near minimalism; despite the fact that the funeral was planned and prepaid; despite the fact that all files were intact; credit cards up to date, bank statements in order, it's been daunting. The driving around, the government offices, the cancellations, the notifications and the trips to charities with the "valuables" have been endless. The workload and the hours have been overwhelming. It has taken weeks and will go on for months before all is completed.

At some point, I'll elaborate on all of it and perhaps give some helpful hints. At this current time, I'm too busy. I'm busy executing. Most of all, I'm busy getting rid of and organizing my own chaos. If I do nothing else, I'm hoping to make the work easier for someone else once I'm gone. After all, what else do I have to do each day but plan for death and dying?