The Family Plot Blog
Newly-Dead® The Game Tests Couples and Singles on End-of-Life Issues
Newly-Dead® The Game was conceived to help start funeral planning conversations in a fun, non-threatening way. Created in 2011 by Gail Rubin, pioneering death educator and The Doyenne of Death®, the game was initially offered only as a digital download. The game is now available as a physical product through the online stores at AGoodGoodbye.com, BeforeIDieFestivals.com, and TheGameCrafter.com for $40. Every purchase of the Newly-Dead Game...
In-Person Death Cafe in Historic Fairview Cemetery
The Albuquerque Death Cafe offers a relaxed, confidential and safe setting to discuss death, drink tea (or your favorite beverage) and eat delicious cake or cookies. We also provide options for those avoiding gluten and added sugar. For this event, taking place on Sunday, June 11 at 3:00 p.m., we will meet in-person outdoors at Historic Fairview Cemetery! The objective of the Death Cafe is “To increase awareness of death with a view to helping...
Retirement Living 101: What Are Your Options?
Knowing where to live in retirement can be one of the most critical adult decisions you’ll ever make. You have many options to consider. Every option for seniors has benefits and disadvantages. This post explores several retirement living options you can take, so you can be ready once the time to make a decision arrives. But first, it's crucial to consider the many factors in making your decision. Read on to learn more. What Are The Factors To...
Sadness and Celebration: A Good Goodbye Funeral for David Bleicher
The funeral for my husband David Bleicher took place on May 3, 2023. His death was caused by multiple medical complications following prostate surgery. In three weeks, his health declined precipitously, with a heart attack, sepsis, cardiac arrest in the hospital, heart failure, and other medical challenges. I chose hospice care, which was an incredible blessing for a peaceful exit. Read about his journey and obituary here. Dave and I are...
How I Made A Good Goodbye for David Bleicher
Since 2010, when my book A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don't Plan to Die was published, I have been advocating for people to plan ahead for end-of-life issues. And I practice what I preach. My husband David Bleicher and I have written advance medical directives and discussed them often. We did our estate plans and set up a trust. We put our funeral plans and information on file with a funeral home a decade ago and funded those...
Organ Donation at Death: Witnessing a Walk of Honor in the Hospital
Organ donation saves lives, even as the donor loses theirs. April is National Donate Life Month. It's designed to encourage people to register to be organ donors and to talk to their families about it. But few people outside of hospital staff see the process in action. I've recently been spending a lot of time in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit of a local hospital. My husband had a heart attack, coded and was revived. This is heavy stuff,...
First Before I Die Festival Tucson this Sunday, April 16
The first Before I Die Tucson event takes place this Sunday, April 16, which is also National Health Care Decision Day, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. This free event (a $5 donation is suggested) will take place at The Loft Cinema, 3233 East Speedway, Tucson, Arizona. Learn more at www.BeforeIDieAZ.com. Before I Die Tucson features insightful presentations about end-of-life decisions, with speakers, videos and door prizes. It starts with a short...
Let’s Help Legalize Body Composting in Maryland!
Natural organic reduction, or NOR (a.k.a. body composting), might become legal in Maryland! It could become the seventh state to legalize natural organic reduction – but we need your help right now. Here's a video message about this from Gail Rubin, CT, The Doyenne of Death®. What is NOR/Body Composting? As you may know, natural organic reduction or NOR is the process for the final...
Crazy Photos: Frozen Dead Guy Days Coffin Race Teams, Costumes and More
From the 2023 Frozen Dead Guy Days Festival in Estes Park, Colorado, check out these photos of the whole crazy scene. There was lots of music, activities and generally good vibes. Planners would have been happy with 3,000 to 4,000 attendees. The event drew 6,000 to 7,000, a hugely popular turn out in this new location. Gail Rubin was there to present Newly-Dead® The Game, thanks to the company Steps After Life. Steps After Life helps families...
Coming to Frozen Dead Guy Days: Newly-Dead® The Game
A popular element of Frozen Dead Guy Days is coming to Estes Park, Colorado for the 2023 festival: Newly-Dead® The Game! Gail Rubin, CT, The Doyenne of Death®, who previously presented this activity in Nederland, is bringing it to the newly-relocated festival, March 17-19, 2023. Newly-Dead The Game is like the old TV game show, The Newlywed Game. Couples are quizzed on how well they know their partner’s last wishes. The four questions get...
Body Composting Conference in Denver March 16-17: Register Now!
Everything you need to know about body composting, aka natural organic reduction (NOR), is the topic of the inaugural Body Composting Conference: Rejoining the Cycle of Life Through Natural Organic Reduction. Being organized by The Natural Funeral, the conference is bringing together visionaries, innovators and movement makers in the death positive field for two days of networking, connection and education. Mark your calendar and make your...
How Adults Can Help Children with Grief on The Doyenne of Death Podcast
When children experience grief, sometimes it's hard for adults to know how to help. Wade Bergner, author of The Mirror Box, has written a children's book that is designed to help families understand and cope with grief. The Mirror Box is an honest story of one boy’s journey from grief to acceptance over the death of his grandfather. He speaks with Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist and host of The Doyenne of Death® Podcast. Among the topics...
Why are People Afraid of Hospice?
Former President Jimmy Carter revealed on February 18 that he is going home from the hospital to live out the rest of his 98-year life on hospice. Back in 2015, when President Carter was diagnosed with metastatic skin cancer, I wrote a post encouraging him to set an example and go on hospice care. He instead pursued an experimental treatment that gave him eight more years of life. And that's okay - good for him! The news coverage over the...
Creative Ways to Keep Valentine’s Day Objects
Valentine’s Day gifts are by nature sentimental. My friend Martie McNabb, CEO of Thingtide Show & Tale®, holds regular sessions where people bring objects they treasure and tell the stories behind the “thing.” Martie recently held a Valentine’s Day Show & Tales session, titled Love Letters, Lockets and Valentine's. I shared a shadow box I put together representing my parents’ long love story. It includes two Valentine’s cards from the...
Discussing Shared Death Experiences on The Doyenne of Death Podcast
What is a Shared Death Experience? You may have heard about Near Death Experiences (NDEs), when someone's body is clinically dead for a period of time. The person's consciousness leaves the body and travels to mystical realms before returning to life in the body. A Shared Death Experience (SDE) is when a person who is not dying shares the experience of someone who is dying. William Peters, author of At Heaven's Door, talks with @GailRubin on...
Celebrating the Life of Mary Woods
Mary Woods' life was celebrated with a Rosary and Vigil service at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church on Wednesday, February 1, 2023. After the Rosary is recited, about 30 minutes into this video, you can hear comments from family and friends about Mary. A Funeral Mass was held the next morning with Archbishop John C. Wester presiding. The video was recorded and edited by Gail Rubin, who writes The Family Plot Blog. Mary Woods Rosary...
Connect with Baby Boomers on End-of-Life Issues With the Before I Die Festival in a Box™
Funeral directors and cemeterians who want to generate pre-need sales can learn how to hold an end-of-life conversation-starting event with the Before I Die Festival in a Box™ by Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist and The Doyenne of Death®. (A doyenne is a woman considered senior in a group who knows a lot about a particular subject.) The book and additional materials will be released March 15, 2023. “Before I Die Festivals provide...
News: Sex and Death, Eco-Friendly Funerals and Downsizing
These recent news stories and opinion pieces offer insights into love and death, pet loss grief, downsizing and eco-friendly funerals. If you could, would you want to know when you will die? From The Washington Post, opinion by Steven Petrow: "Would you want to know when you’re going to die? I’ve thought about this question quite a bit recently.... The question is not entirely a hypothetical one. A few months ago, out of a morbid curiosity, I...
Islamic Funeral Traditions on The Doyenne of Death® Podcast
Islamic funeral traditions and Jewish funeral traditions are remarkably similar. There are approximately eight million Muslims in the United States, double the number of Jews in the U.S. What do Americans need to know about the different observances of these two religions? Dr. Ahmad-Rufai Abdullah speaks with host Gail Rubin on The Doyenne of Death® Podcast about Muslim traditions regarding funerals and burials. Topics discussed on this program...
End-of-Life and Funeral News Stories
There have been several recent news stories about death doulas and end-of-life issues in the media. Here's a roundup of those stories. NPR: End-of-life doulas are working to make conversations about death easier Talking about dying can be uncomfortable, awkward and heartbreaking. But a growing number of people called end-of-life doulas are working to make conversations about the inevitability of death easier for patients and their families.......
Let’s Play Death Ed Bingo!
Do you like playing Bingo? Do you wish there was an easy way to get people to talk about death and funeral planning? Be one of the first people to play Gail Rubin's new game, Death Ed Bingo! Laugh and learn about end-of-life issues while playing this word Bingo game online. Gail will debut Death Ed Bingo! with an online Zoom session on Saturday, January 21, 2023. Join her Death Cafe Albuquerque Meetup group to participate. Death Ed Bingo! Just...