Thanksgiving is a special holiday. Besides the great joy derived from gathering family members together for a scrumptious feast, channel surfing between football games and the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade on TV, and, in our family, many rounds of competitive ping-pong matches, it is a time to reflect upon being grateful for each other and for giving to others who may be less fortunate.
Have you ever thrown a family reunion at the very last minute with no advance planning for details including where your reunion will be located, where you will house all of your incoming family members, how you will provide transporation to and from the airport at all hours of the day and night, what kind of food and how many meals to plan on, what the appropriate attire should be, and what the other forms of entertainment for the weekend will be?
Here are 7 tasks to deal with ASAP whether or not your loved one's death was sudden or expected.
1. 911
Contacting the emergency medical team is probably the first number you will dial. Someone died. And you need help. Then it is time to say goodbye and have your loved one transported to the local hospital or funeral home. Someone has to officially declare the death.
Have you ever tried to write an obituary?
It certainly was not a writing assignment that I had in college.
There are many reasons why writing an obituary is inherently difficult:
May 4, 2006.
I was driving to the North Shore Mall on Interstate 95 on a beautiful spring day. My cell phone rang. It was my brothers number. "Dad's been trying to reach you-did he get a hold of you"?
"No, why?"
"Mom's dead."