The Family Plot Blog
Casket Pods for Green Burial from Capsula Mundi
With the growing interest in green burial in the U.S., an Italian company has designed biodegradable egg-shaped burial containers for cremated remains and full bodies in a fetal position. The Capsula Mundi burial pods are meant for pairing with a live tree in a natural burial ground. Capsula Mundi's founders, Italian designers Raoul Bretzel and Anna Citelli, see death as not the end, but the beginning of a way back to nature. They have...
How to Avoid Political Arguments at Thanksgiving
Want to avoid political arguments around the table this Thanksgiving? Talk about death and your preferences on end-of-life issues instead. Remembering that we all have a deadline, and rededicating ourselves to making the most of this lifetime before we reach that last day, provides some perspective. Here are sources for great free tools you can download to help get the conversation started: The Conversation Project - Nonprofit organization...
Compassion and Choices Introduces Truth in Treatment
The nonprofit organization Compassion & Choices has made great strides over the past few years to make medical aid in dying available to mentally capable, terminally ill patients in the U.S. Barbara Coombs Lee, the president of Compassion & Choices, just announced a new initiative: Truth in Treatment™. Compassion & Choices is igniting a social movement to end an epidemic of over-treatment at the end of life. Truth in Treatment™ will...
How to Get a Natural Burial in New Mexico
The baby boomer generation is gradually becoming aware of its mortality, and true to this generation's pioneering ways, the 80 million boomers in the U.S. are changing the approach to death. No traditional funerals for this crowd! Celebrating life, and natural burial, a.k.a. green burial, is of growing interest to the aging men and women born between 1946 to 1964. On the latest A Good Goodbye Radio interview on FuneralRadio.com, host Gail...
Requiem: A Free and Simple App for Funeral Communications
When a loved one dies, especially when there's been no pre-need funeral planning, many families have no easy way to contact everyone that needs to know about the memorial service. Think about it: when time is of the essence, can you easily assemble the names and contact information for all your family and friends? The Requiem app, introduced at the 2016 National Funeral Directors Association convention and expo, is helping the funeral industry...
A Story to Comfort Mothers of Stillborn Babies
This guest blog post was written by Sarah Rickerd, founder and owner of Carry Your Heart Jewelry and Gifts. How do you say a good goodbye when you never said hello? On April 23, 2013, I held my daughter Lena Grace, stillborn at seven months’ gestation, for twenty minutes, creating a sacred space for us amidst the beeps and blips of hospital monitors that would hold the entirety of our relationship together in this world. With the two year-old...
How to Make “Time for Family, Time For Talk” NOW
As families gather for holiday events and other occasions, they are encouraged to simply talk more. Share stories. Reminisce. Find out what matters most to the people who matter most to you. It’s the perfect time of the year to ask questions and talk about life. That’s the idea behind Have the Talk of a Lifetime Month: “Time for Family, Time for Talk.” It’s a special month-long event sponsored by the Funeral and Memorial Information Council...
Advanced Audio Systems for Funeral Homes
When you think about engaging the services of a funeral home, the quality of their audio visual systems is probably not top-of-mind. Yet, when the music or the video tribute doesn't play when it's supposed to during a memorial service, that can leave a bad impression upon the family when they remember their use of that funeral home. Chris Runnels, owner of Advanced Audio Systems, has been installing audio and visual systems solely for funeral...
Watching Artistic Wooden Urns Created at the NFDA Expo
Most of the funeral products on display at the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) convention expo were exhibited in their finished form. Only Clark McMullen, founder and artist at Artistic Urns, brought his workshop to the showroom floor. "We brought the process with us here to show how we create a hand-turned wooden urn," said McMullen. In the booth was a slice of a tree trunk, representing the timber they rescue from arborists, the...
How Death Anxiety Affects Our Views of Politics
Finally, Election Day is here. After a vitriol-filled, seemingly-endless campaign, voters are voting and we'll have results soon. If you haven't done it yet, please vote! Did you know that Dr. Ernest Becker, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Denial of Death, famously argued that our death anxiety influences our choices and behaviors? Check out this explanation of his Terror Management Theory to learn how the major parties use fear...
Fundamentals of Chinese American Funeral Customs – Part Three
Part Three of the Fundamentals of Chinese American Funeral Customs covers Red Envelopes, Funeral Music and Processions, Lucky and Unlucky Numbers, and Celebration Days. This information was shared during classes at the 2016 ICCFA University College of International Studies. Click here for Part One. Click here for Part Two. Lycee – Red Envelopes As attendees leave the funeral, family members hand each person a red envelope and a white envelope....
How To Make Christmas Gift Giving a Downsizing Adventure
This Christmas, avoid the clutter of unwanted items and make holiday gift giving an opportunity to downsize. "The chaos and clutter of holiday gift giving is stress-inducing," said Gail Rubin, CT, author of KICKING THE BUCKET LIST: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die. "Yes, it is possible to use the holidays to downsize and start meaningful conversations when the family gatherings start at Thanksgiving." Rubin offers...
Day of the Dead Celebrations Have Worldwide Commonalities
The Catholic Church officially recognizes the November 1 and 2 celebrations of All Saints Day and All Souls Day. While the Dia de los Muertos Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico and Latin America gets much of the news coverage, other cultures also observe this tribute to our beloved departed. The Church influenced these observances throughout many cultures. In New Orleans, you see the French and Spanish influence in the city's above-ground...
How to Create a Day of the Dead Altar
Halloween, a.k.a. "All Hallows Eve," precedes the Day of the Dead celebrations held November 1st and 2nd - All Saints Day and All Souls Day in the Catholic tradition. In Mexico, Dia De Los Muertos as it is known in Spanish, honors deceased children and infants on the first day, and deceased adults on the second day. You don’t have to be Mexican or Catholic to honor your loved ones with a Day of the Dead altar in your home and welcome their...
How to Treat Cremated Remains: New Vatican Rules for Catholics
Catholics got the okay to be cremated in 1963, when the Vatican and the Pope said cremation was allowed, as long as it didn't suggest a denial of faith about resurrection. But with the rising cremation rate now exceeding 50% in the United States, the Vatican needed to issue some clarification about what Catholics can do with cremated remains. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, published on Tuesday, provides a new...
How Gimmicks Attract Visitors to NFDA Exhibitors
After you've been to a few funeral director conventions, you begin to notice specific vendors use their favorite enticements for drawing visitors to their exhibit booths at the expo. Here are photos from the 2016 NFDA convention in Philadelphia that illuminate this phenomenon.
Kicking The Bucket List Talks and Book Signings
It's now official! The eBook versions of KICKING THE BUCKET LIST: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die are now available in Kindle form at Amazon.com and on iTunes for Apple, both at $7.99. The paperback retails for $15.95. In KICKING THE BUCKET LIST, death educator Gail Rubin brings a light touch to cleaning out those dark recesses of your home and organizing for end-of-life issues. In these pages, you’ll learn how to:...
New Mexico Baby Boomers Now Have a Natural Burial Ground
Green burial in New Mexico has been a long time coming. Actually, given the state's high desert dry climate, it's really brown burial - so let's call it natural burial. The prospect of natural burial appeals to Baby Boomers. The good news: there's now a natural burial ground open for business in the state. For years, there was hope that a natural burial ground would be started near Santa Fe as part of the Galisteo Basin Preserve land...
How To Safely Dispose of Prescription Medications
It’s tricky to dispose of expired prescription medications without polluting the environment. Flushing some drugs down the toilet can cause groundwater problems downstream. But there are ways to avoid those issues. This Saturday, October 22 is a national day for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to collect unused or expired medications for safe disposal. Check with local government entities to learn your options for safe disposal. If...
Remembering Larry Mandel
Three words come to mind when I think of funeral director and life cycle celebrant Larry Mandel: kindness, justice and enthusiasm. He died on Sunday, October 16, 2016, just two weeks shy of his 68th birthday (Oct. 30 - also Create a Great Funeral Day). Kindness Larry was a mensch - a good guy. He proudly described himself as a fourth generation funeral director. He was also a very media-savvy funeral director. Early in his career, before...
Oct. 30 Bookworks Talk and Signing
Not only is Sunday, October 30 Create a Great Funeral Day, it's also the official launch day for KICKING THE BUCKET LIST: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die! At 3:00 p.m. on October 30, the great local independent bookstore Bookworks will host a talk and book signing in their store at 4022 Rio Grande Blvd NW, Albuquerque, NM. Here's a link to their event listing. Come to Bookworks and hear about Gail's Adventures in...