The Family Plot Blog
William Breitbart Talk on Confronting Our Mortality
Last night I attended a talk by William S. Breitbart, MD titled "Confronting Our Mortality: A Crisis of Spirit, an Opportunity for Meaning." The event was held by IDEAS in Psychiatry, a non-profit institute affiliated with the University of New Mexico Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Breitbart's insightful lecture provided much to ponder regarding end-of-life issues. Breitbart has dedicated much of his career to helping people find hope and...
Frozen Dead Guy Days Round Two
Mark your calendars for March 2-4, 2012 for the 11th annual Frozen Dead Guy Days festival in Nederland, Colorado! I'll be at this wild and wacky celebration of all things dead and frozen, bringing back The Newly-Dead Game™ which debuted there last year. Frozen Dead Guy Days is enjoying a surge of publicity over the past few days. The New York Times recently did a story about how festival manager Amanda MacDonald bought the festival from...
Jewish and Hmong Memorial Monuments
Katzman Monument Company makes memorial markers for Jewish and Hmong cemetery headstones.
Healthy New Year Short Video
While you usually see me writing about end-of-life and funeral planning, I'm all about making the most of this lifetime - living and dying. In my spare time, I'm a yoga and Pilates instructor at my neighborhood YMCA. I live a generally healthy lifestyle (including eating dark chocolate) and encourage my students to do so as well. Recently saw this great video about the best thing you can do for your health - it's easy, it's free, and it only...
50 Truths of Life
Nancy Weil, founder of The Laugh Academy, just turned 50. In honor of reaching the Big 5-0, she wrote this thought-provoking list of her 50 Truths of Life. It's got some good insights on living and dying. Enjoy! HEALTH 1. A pedicure in winter is the best, especially because it is your own private treat. 2. If you eat whatever you want and you do not go to the gym, you will gain weight. I have tested this theory a million times and I always get...
Hidden Retirement Trend – The Good Death
MoneyWatch reporter Steve Vernon did a story titled "Five hidden retirement trends of 2011." He reported on some important emerging trends that might not have made the headlines, but they still require your attention in the months and years to come. One of them involves end-of-life issues. They include: 1. New products and services to generate retirement income 2. The Department of Labor issues regulations on expert advice in 401(k) plans 3....
A Winter Solstice Poem
Last night we visited the Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery, which is a hub of activity on Christmas Eve. Hundreds of people decorated the graves of their relatives with luminarias, mini-Christmas trees, multicolored lights, and mini-displays complete with music. The video below shows the extent of the holiday decorations lighting up the night. The poem I'm reading during the video is Winter Solstice by Isaac C. Eastvold. The text of the poem is...
A Good Goodbye Book Reviews
Two book reviews of A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don't Plan to Die recently appeared at BookPleasures.com and AllTheSingleGirlfriends.com. Here is an excerpt from David Menefee's review at BookPleasures.com: Loved ones often die unexpectedly, and we have precious little time to prepare a funeral. Most of us feel broadsided by shock and grief, and most of us have no idea what must be done, or how to avoid being taken advantage...
A Note from The Universe
Every weekday, I get a "Note from The Universe" in my email. I loved today's message and wanted to share it with you. The top 10 things dead people want to tell living people, Gail, are: 1. They're not dead. 2. They're sorry for any pain they caused. 3. There's no such thing as a devil or hell. 4. They were ready to go when they went. 5. You're not ready. 6. They finally understand what they were missing. 7. Nothing can prepare you for the...
Ideas for Children at Funerals
Dear Abby recently ran a column about ways to help children grieve and address the dearly departed at a funeral. As so often happens, her readers had some very good ideas. DEAR ABBY: "Saddened in New Jersey" (Oct. 2) complained that her sister's 4-year-old daughter put stickers on the hands and face of her deceased grandmother during her wake. Perhaps the child's mother didn't anticipate her daughter's actions. Children need to grieve, too....
Lucky Bingo Urn and Ashes
News out of Rochester, New Hampshire: Diane Bozzi regularly took the ashes of her mother to Bingo games for good luck. Then she had a run of bad luck - the urn containing her good luck ashes was stolen out of her van last week. But, oh happy day! - the urn has been returned. Diane Bozzi and her mother loved playing Bingo together. Before her mother died in 2002, Bozzi promised her mother to take some of her ashes with her to play. Her mother...
Funerals in Commercials
Collected a few fun funeral-themed commercials on YouTube for your amusement today! When I played this classic Beetle commercial, my husband (who can quote movie and TV show lines by heart) started saying the lines. http://youtu.be/fCHWhIHIuhY Love this Cell Phone Karma commercial from Kyocera: http://youtu.be/qnqhQMUeMkQ The Golden Gate Funeral Home did this interesting take on the deceased visiting his own funeral: http://youtu.be/TojWqx1G9EY...
The Social Security Death Benefit
Social Security provides the grand sum of $255.00, paid either to the funeral home or next of kin, when someone dies. Why $255? That was what a funeral cost in 1937 when Social Security first started. The benefit has never been raised over more than 70 years. At a recent book event, a man told me that he was going to let the funeral home have the $255 and leave them to figure out what to do with his lifeless carcass. He really didn't care. At...
Good Tips on Funeral Planning
You can find tons of great funeral planning information in this article by Tom Murphy of the Associated Press.
The Origin of Star Trek’s Live Long and Prosper Greeting
Did you know that Star Trek's Vulcan "Live long and prosper" greeting with the distinctive upraised hand sign comes from Jewish tradition? Leonard Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock on the original TV series, grew up attending an Orthodox synagogue. In these YouTube videos of interviews with him and talks he has given, he describes how the saying and the hand gesture came onto the set of Star Trek. He opens this talk with the question, "Is there...
Hospice, Medicare and Politics
Here's part of an interesting story in the Los Angeles Times about hospice, living and dying, and end-of-life issues. The article, titled "Not ready to die, but prepared," by Steve Lopez, provides an insightful look at palliative care and implications for Medicare costs as the population ages. It opens with a look into the life of a cancer patient who is on hospice care through Kaiser's healthcare system. But here's the part about satisfaction...
Funeral Films: The Six Wives of Henry Lefay
By Gail Rubin The Six Wives of Henry Lefay (2009) is a comedic cautionary tale for those who don’t make funeral plans, or for those who make plans but get married way too many times. One of the tag lines is: He loves women - Lots of women. As a funny funeral film, it’s a great tool to start funeral planning conversations. It’s also a great way for estate planning attorneys to help their clients get serious about their wills, trusts and other...
Bodily Functions That Continue After Death
Check out this "fun" listing of ten bodily functions that continue after death, first posted at the website, i09.com. 10 Bodily Functions That Continue After Death Death doesn't need to stop you from doing all the things you enjoy, as long as the things you enjoy are pretty basic. Certain bodily functions continue for minutes, hours, days, and even weeks after death. You will not believe the kind of things a dead body will do with its...
Regina Leader Post Mentions A Good Goodbye!
Lifestyle editor Irene Seiberling with The Regina Leader Post, based in Regina, Saskatchewan (way up north in Canada), just posted this in her online column, Anything and Everything: Book Helps People Plan Their Own End-of-Life Event Just as talking about sex won’t make you pregnant, talking about funerals won’t make you dead, says Gail Rubin, author of A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die (Light Tree Press). Rubin...
Funeral Films: The Loved One
I'm starting a series of periodic articles about movies, mostly comedies, that I call "funeral films." These films have elements related to funerals that can be instructive and helpful for starting a conversation about funeral planning. This first film, The Loved One, is all about the funeral industry. Funeral Films: The Loved One By Gail Rubin The Loved One satirizes the funeral business, including pet funerals, as well as the movie industry...
Keep the Spirit of Gratitude
http://youtu.be/gXDMoiEkyuQ This TED video featuring cinematographer Louie Schwartzberg gives us a number of reminders to live for today. Within this wonderful meditation on reasons to be grateful and thankful, there is this wonderful quote from an old man (not identified): "Do you think this is just another day in your life? It's not just another day. It's the one day that is given to you. Today. It's given to you. It's a gift. It's the only...