What to Say and Do When Someone Dies

Funeral visitations and viewings are some of the cremation services offered in Macomb, MI. Many people will hold funeral viewings or visitations, and services before their loved one is cremated. If you knew the deceased or you know the family (or a specific family member), then you should attend the visitation or viewing and the funeral service, unless the family has specifically requested that these be private and by invitation only, and you have not received an invitation.

You might not have any qualms about attending the funeral service for someone who has died, because this is typically a service where you don’t have to interact or engage with the family of the deceased.

However, attending the viewing or visitation does require one-on-one interaction with the bereaved family, and you may not be sure what to say or do when you talk with them. Here are a few things that should help make this easier.

One of the simplest and most heartfelt things that you can do as soon as you hear of the death is to send a card letting the family know that you are sorry for their loss. You don’t have to run out and buy a sympathy card.

If you have a card with a beautiful cover that is blank on the inside, then you have all you need. If you knew the deceased, be sure to acknowledge them or share a warm memory of them in the card. Sign your full name so that the family knows exactly who you are. Get the card mailed as soon as possible.

At the visitation or viewing, simply be sincere when you talk with the family. If you knew their loved one well, then be sure to let each family member know what their loved one meant to you and how sad you are for their loss.

Be sure not to be negative or disparaging about the deceased. For a grieving family, this can be very painful, hurtful, and can intensify the grief they are feeling. They need to be supported, encouraged, and comforted, so be kind and empathetic to what they are going through.

There are many funeral clichés that people instinctively fall back on in times of loss and grief. While they may be well-meaning, they can feel dismissive, disrespectful, and cold to the bereaved family. Some of these include phrases such as, “You’re better off without them,” “I know how you feel,” “At least they’re not suffering anymore,” “You’ll feel better soon,” “You need to be strong,” or “At least you had them for a little while.”

Don’t linger talking with family members, because there are other people in the line for the visitation or viewing who want to talk with them. If you monopolize their time, then they may not be able to greet all the mourners who’ve come to offer them support and encouragement, and this may leave some mourners feeling slighted.

If you want to talk to the family or a specific family member at length, call them after the viewing or visitation and ask if you can stop by and visit with them. Be sure to bring something with you when you visit. You can bring something as simple as a plant or you can bring food or grocery items.

For information about cremation services in Macomb, MI, our caring and knowledgeable staff at Lee-Ellena Funeral is here to assist you. You can visit our funeral home at 46530 Romeo Plank Rd., Macomb, MI 48044, or you can call us today at (586) 412-8999.

Food for a Funeral Reception

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Receptions after funerals at funeral homes in Macomb, MI are common. Receptions offer an opportunity for the bereaved family and mourners to gather together in an informal setting and share food and stories about the deceased. If you’re planning to have a reception after the funeral service of your loved one or you are coordinating a reception for a family who has lost someone, you will need to take several things into consideration in your planning.

Food is a central part of the funeral process because it reflects the region of the country you live in, your heritage, and your own family traditions. It is comforting to both the grieving family and to friends and other family members who are assembled to honor the memory of your loved one.

One of the considerations for food in a funeral reception is where the reception will be held. This will be one of the determining factors in how simple or elaborate the food the food needs to be.

Most funeral homes now have facilities that can accommodate funeral receptions. However, the food may need to be already prepared or catered. This would mean that the best types of food to prepare are light fare, such as finger foods, or a sit-down catered meal.

If you’re holding the reception somewhere that has a full kitchen, such as a private home or church hall, then food can be prepared there, so you can plan on having a full, cooked meal.

Another consideration for food is how much you will need. If everyone who attends the funeral service is invited to the funeral reception, then you’ll need to plan for a larger group of people and make sure there is enough food to feed everyone. If the funeral reception is for family and close friends, then you will need less food.

Preparation of the food that will be served at the funeral reception is a big part of the planning process. If you are planning a funeral reception to be held after the death of your loved one, then it’s best to delegate food preparation – and the majority of the planning – to other people, because you and your family will have enough to do taking care of funeral arrangements without adding something else.

If a full cooked meal at a private home or church hall is going to be served, then you should let people know what they should bring to contribute to the meal. Slow cooker dishes and casseroles are great entrees for this type of meal, and one-dish sides, breads, and desserts will round out the menu. Drinks should include coffee, tea, juice, sodas, and water. As much as possible, cook in disposable containers and use disposable plates, cups, and dinnerware to make cleanup as easy as possible.

If you will be providing light fare at the funeral home, then assign each type of item to friends and extended family members to bring to the reception. The funeral home can provide paper goods and drinks.

If the meal will be catered, you can either organize the menu with the caterer of your choice or the funeral home can work with one of their preferred caterers to create a menu. The caterer will provide everything needed for the reception food, including plates, cups, and dinnerware, and they will also take care of cleanup afterward.

For more information about funeral receptions at funeral homes in Macomb, MI, our compassionate and experienced staff at Lee-Ellena Funeral Home can help. You can come by our funeral home at 46530 Romeo Plank Rd., Macomb, MI, 48044 or you can contact us today at (586) 412-8999.

Choosing Music for a Memorial Service

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Memorial services are one of the cremation services offered in Mount Sterling Heights, MI. An important part of memorial services is the music that is selected and played. Music speaks to the soul and it can add great meaning to the service where people are gathered to remember you and remember your life.

While in times past, music associated with memorial services was likely to be limited to a very narrow genre of traditional hymns or classical music, now many different types of music are played at memorial services.

You can choose music that you like. You can choose music that will remind people of things about you. You can choose music that is connected to a special event in your life, such as your wedding day, or that has special meaning to your family, such as a favorite song that you all shared in common.

However, although your choice of music to be played at your memorial service can be virtually unlimited, there are a few guidelines to keep in mind as you are making your selections.

Avoid music that includes expletives or has vulgar lyrics. There will be a wide variety of people attending your memorial service. There will be very young people and very elderly people. If you are affiliated with a religious congregation, many of them are likely to attend your memorial service. Work colleagues will also likely be in attendance.

While expletives and vulgar lyrics are ubiquitous in modern music, they are still offensive to many people, and the last thing you want at your memorial service is people who are shocked and offended by the lyrics of the music you have chosen.

Before choosing music, make sure you double-check the lyrics to ensure that they’re not inappropriate in any other way (suggestive, double-entendre, etc.) that might cause offense to the people who are attending your memorial service.

The next step is to decide at what points during your memorial service that music should be played. There’s no set format, so it’s up to you as to when you think it would be most appropriate.

Most funeral homes have equipment that can play streaming or MP3 files, so all you will need to do is make sure, especially if the music is a rare recording or a deep cut, that you have them somewhere (such as on a Spotify playlist) that is easily accessible for the funeral home to play them.

If you’re unsure what music you’d like to have played at your memorial service, here are a few suggestions from different genres to help you get started.

If you are interested in having hymns played at your memorial service, some of the more popular ones are “Amazing Grace,” “Oh Happy Day,” “Ave Maria,” and “Blessed Assurance.”

Some popular music choices that are often heard at memorials services include “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” – Israel Kamakawiwo ‘Ole, “I Can See Clearly Now” – Johnny Nash, “Angel” – Sarah Mclachlan, and “Imagine” – John Lennon.

For more soothing music, favorites include “Bridge Over Troubled Water” – Simon & Garfunkel, “I’ll Be Missing You“– Puff Daddy and Faith Evans, “One Sweet Day” – Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men, and “Go Rest High on That Mountain” – Vince Gill.

If you want uplifting music, consider “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong or “Wherever You Will Go” by The Calling.

For more information about cremation services in Mount Sterling Heights, MI, our caring and knowledgeable staff at Lee-Ellena Funeral is here to assist you. You can visit our funeral home at 46530 Romeo Plank Rd., Macomb, MI 48044, or you can call us today at (586) 412-8999.

Checklist for Writing a Will

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After funerals at funeral homes in Sterling Heights, MI, your property and assets will be distributed among your immediate family members. If you don’t have a will, the estate will go into probate, and the courts will appoint a judge to decide how everything will be split up among your legal (according to the law) heirs. This may mirror what you would have done if you’d written a will or it may be completely different than what you would have done.

To avoid your estate going into probate and having your assets and property distributed arbitrarily by the courts, you should write a will that specifies what you want done with your estate after you die.

There are software programs that will step you through the process of making a will, and there are legal websites that enable you to create a will online. Technically, a will is legally-binding as long as you have signed and dated it, but good practice is to have it witnessed by at least two people (non-relatives) and notarized (the bank where you have your checking and savings accounts will usually provide this service at no charge).

So, what goes into a will?

The main purpose of a will is to state your final wishes and to include very specific information about how you want real property and financial assets distributed after your death.

To begin the process of writing a will, you should itemize all of your financial assets and real property that you own. This should include bank accounts, investment accounts, retirement accounts, and trusts or inheritances (if applicable) as well as real estate holdings, vehicles (both transportation and recreational), and livestock (if applicable).

You should also list all debts and liabilities for which you are responsible. This would include loans, mortgages, and credit card debt.

The next thing you need to do is to decide who your beneficiaries are going to be. While typically these are immediate family members, you may have extended family members or close friends to whom you’d like to make specific bequests. You can also name organizations or even pets (a caretaker must be appointed to act for the pet) as beneficiaries.

If you have several beneficiaries, be sure to detail how you want assets distributed among them. Be sure to have a list of alternate beneficiaries in mind in case your primary beneficiaries predecease you.

Next, you’ll need to appoint a person to execute your will. This should be someone who you trust beyond a shadow of a doubt and about whose character you have absolutely no questions. Your executor will handle all the aspects of managing your estate after you die, including settling debts, paying taxes, and distributing your assets to the beneficiaries you name.

You will also want to name an alternate executor in case the primary executor predeceases you.

Be sure to discuss your plans with the people you want to name as the primary and alternate executors of your will. Some people may not want to or may not be able to serve in that capacity.

If you have minor children, designate a legal guardian for them (be sure to ask the person before appointing them in a legal document). If you don’t appoint a legal guardian in your will, then the court will appoint a legal guardian – who may or may not be your first choice – for your minor children.

Once your will is completed, store it with your important papers and make sure your executor knows where it is and has complete access to it.

For more information about making wills at funeral homes in Sterling Heights, MI, our compassionate and experienced staff at Lee-Ellena Funeral Home can help. You can come by our funeral home at 46530 Romeo Plank Rd., Macomb, MI, 48044 or you can contact us today at (586) 412-8999.

Sending Condolences on Social Media

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Before cremations as part of the cremation services offered in Clinton Township, MI, many deaths are now announced first on social media sites like Facebook. Social media sites have become a primary away of announcing the deaths of loved ones, since so many friends and family members are connected through them.

It follows that people have now begun to use social media to express comfort, support, and encouragement for people who have lost loved ones. However, even though technology has brought a new way to offer sympathy to those who are grieving, we can still often struggle with what to say and how to say it.

There are some guidelines that should help us make sure that our condolences are thoughtful, helpful, and sincere.

First, when you see someone’s death announced on social media, avoid the temptation to respond immediately. The very mechanism of social media – instant feedback – makes this a counterintuitive response, but it’s important to take some time to absorb the announcement.

First, make sure the death announcement is being made by a credible source. The best rule of thumb is not to say anything until the family of the deceased has made an official announcement on social media (if, in fact, they do). If the family chooses not to share the news of the death of a loved one on social media, then take some time to do the research to make sure that the person has in fact died.

Once you’ve confirmed the death, contact the family member you know privately through email or text messaging and offer your condolences on their loss privately.

Another thing you should be careful not to do, unless the immediate family of the deceased has posted the announcement of their death on social media, is to announce it yourself. There may be close or extended family members who have not yet heard about the death, and it can be quite jarring to first find out about the death of a family member on social media. It can also create family issues if strangers know about the death of another family member before all the deceased’s family members have been notified.

Even if the deceased’s family has publicly announced the death of a loved one on social media, you don’t have to offer a public condolence. If you knew the deceased and the family of the deceased well, find a way to contact them privately and offer your support and comfort in a very personal way that lets them know you love them and care about them.

One of the big no-no’s is asking questions on social media about how the deceased died. That is not the place for these kinds of questions, and it can be seen as disrespectful of the family who is grieving. We all have a sort of morbid curiosity about the details of death, but it is better to let the family, if they choose, share any details about how their loved one died when they are ready to.

Someone else’s loss can trigger memories of our own losses. There may be a temptation to seek comfort for our past losses along the current loss the family of a loved who has died is experiencing. It’s important to remember that support and comfort is for the grieving family, not for us, so we can’t try to make the loss all about us.

For more information about cremation services in Clinton Township, MI, our caring and knowledgeable staff at Lee-Ellena Funeral is here to assist you. You can visit our funeral home at 46530 Romeo Plank Rd., Macomb, MI 48044, or you can call us today at (586) 412-8999.

Types of Funeral Services

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There are different types of funerals at funeral homes in Clinton Township, MI. Funeral services are much more customizable than in times past, so the funeral home is very capable of meeting your unique wishes and desires for your funeral service or the funeral service of a loved one.

As society has changed, so have the kinds of funeral services that people want to have after they have died. No longer is a funeral service just the traditional – and more formal – service that most of us are at least familiar with. While that type of funeral service is definitely still an option, there are many other kinds of funerals services that can be performed to honor the memory of a loved one who has died.

There are four basic types of funeral services (all of these can be customized): traditional full service burials; direct burials; full service cremations; and, direct cremations.

A traditional full service burial is composed of a visitation or viewing, a funeral service, and a cemetery burial. At a viewing or visitation, mourners can pay their last respects to the deceased and offer condolences, comfort and support to the deceased’s family.

After the viewing or visitation, which usually lasts two hours, a formal funeral ceremony is held. This ceremony usually includes a section of readings (poems, prose, etc.), eulogies (given by close friends or family members), a spiritual message, and music.

Either directly afterwards or the next day, the deceased is transported to the cemetery, where a short service is held at the grave site to commit the deceased’s body to the ground, and then it is buried. Sometimes, a reception with food and drinks is held afterwards to allow mourners to spend time with the family in a less formal atmosphere.

Direct burial is another type of funeral service. This is also known as immediate burial. A direct burial happens shortly after death and does not have any type of funeral ceremony that takes place before the burial. The funeral home simply gets the death certificate and cemetery permits, prepares the deceased for burial, and transports the deceased to the cemetery, where they are buried.

Another type of funeral service is full service cremation. Before the deceased is cremated, a visitation or viewing is held so that friends and family can pay their final respects to the deceased and often encouragement and comfort to the grieving family.

Like a full service burial, a funeral ceremony follows the viewing or visitation, composed of the traditional elements of readings, music, eulogies, and spiritual encouragement. After the funeral ceremony, the deceased is then transported to the crematory.

The family does the necessary paperwork to allow the cremation and to positively identify the deceased. Cremation, which takes about two or three hours, follows. After the cremation remains (bone fragments) have cooled, a heavy-duty magnet is used to remove any metal that may be present. Then the bone fragments are pulverized into the consistency of sand and placed in a plastic bag, which is put into a cremation container. The container with the cremation remains is then given to the deceased’s family to do with as they choose.

Direct cremation is the final type of funeral service available. With direct cremation, no funeral ceremony is held before the deceased is cremation. The deceased is cremated within 24-48 hours after death, and the cremation remains returned to their family. The family may choose to have a memorial service sometime later to remember their loved one.

For more information about funeral services at funeral homes in Clinton Township, MI, our compassionate and experienced staff at Lee-Ellena Funeral Home can help. You can come by our funeral home at 46530 Romeo Plank Rd., Macomb, MI, 48044 or you can contact us today at (586) 412-8999.

Self-Care and Grief

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After cremations as part of the cremation services offered in Macomb, MI, grieving settles in and all the things that need to done come piling in on us. The combination, along with having, in a very short period of time, to go back to school or go back to work, where even more demands will be place on us can be so daunting that we simply forget to take care of our own needs and health.

Grief takes a tremendous toll on mental health, physical health, and emotional health. The added pressures of doing all that needs to be done after a loved one dies and having to carry on our normal lives can have even more devastating effects.

So, it’s important to take time regularly to take care of ourselves. There are many ways we can incorporate self-care into our lives.

When we’re home on the weekends, we should try to make time for a nap during the day. Stress needs rest, but this also gives us something to look forward to during the week, which can help improve our moods.

Exercise is one of the best ways we can take care of ourselves. Instead of going to or joining a gym, we should cancel all those memberships and just get outside and do something. Whether we decide to walk (get good walking shoes for the lowest impact on the joints), run, ride a bike, or even skateboard, moving is good for the brain and the body.

Being outdoors while we’re exercising gives an additional benefit of being able to see all the beauty that is still around us, and it gives us a quiet and serene place to think, to plan, and even to grieve.

Another way we can take care of ourselves are the death of someone we love is to learn to say “No” to the things that will deplete our energy and put more of a burden on us. That includes things like trying to stay as busy as possible so we don’t have to deal with our loss and our grief, as well as laziness with our loss and grief as a justification.

Anything done often enough can become a habit, and these are two habits that are destructive to self-care.

Also, learn to say, “No,” to people. Whether it’s our bosses at work asking us to take on one more project when we’ve already got all we can handle or it’s a friend who insists that we need to get out of the house and do things, four or five times a week.

Healthy eating is another way we can take care of ourselves after a loved one dies. In the initial days after their death, the eating was probably not as healthy as it could have been. For the body to heal and be able to counteract the stress of grieving, a healthy diet is paramount.

Our bedrooms need to be set up so that they are conducive to us getting a good night’s sleep. Sleep is naturally disrupted when someone we love dies: first, during the funeral process itself and second, after we’re home alone after everyone has gone back to their lives.

Quality sleep is one of the best ways we can take care of ourselves because it reduces stress levels, improves heart health, improves brain function, and allows the body to repair itself.

For more information about cremation services in Macomb, MI, our caring and knowledgeable staff at Lee-Ellena Funeral is here to assist you. You can visit our funeral home at 46530 Romeo Plank Rd., Macomb, MI 48044, or you can call us today at (586) 412-8999.

What to Cancel When a Loved One Dies

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After funerals at funeral homes in Macomb, MI, there will be many things that you will need to take care of to put your loved one’s life to rest. In the hustle and bustle of the days and weeks following your loved one’s death, you may feel overwhelmed and unable to get everything done.

Because of this, you may not think about all the things that are associated with your loved one’s life, or think about the need to have some things canceled. This list should help you make sure you get everything canceled so there are no surprises down the road.

Financial accounts are one area that you need to consider. Some accounts may need to be canceled, while others will simply need ownership transferred to you, if you’re not already attached to the account.

Bank accounts and credit union accounts, which include checking accounts, CD’s, and savings accounts, should be canceled or transferred to your name after all debts are paid. If you are already attached to the bank accounts, then the accounts need to be put in your name only, with your loved one’s name removed from the account.

If your loved one had credit cards in their name only, these should be cancelled. If you are attached to their credit card accounts, then you need to contact the credit card companies to have your loved one’s name removed from the accounts.

If your loved one had a mortgage or car loan in their name only, then you will need to have ownership of the mortgage and car loan transferred to you. If the mortgage or car loan was in both your name and your loved one’s name, then your loved one’s name needs to be taken off.

Retirement and investment accounts that your loved had should be transferred into your name only.

PayPal and BitCoin accounts that your loved one had should be cancelled. If you don’t have a PayPal account set up for yourself, then you should go ahead and get one so that you can send and receive and easily pay for things purchased online.

Insurance is another area where policies may need to be cancelled or put in your name only.

It is like that you are already on car insurance policies, mortgage insurance policies, and homeowner’s insurance policies that your loved one had. If that’s the case, you need to have these policies changed to be in just your name.

Life insurance claims are paid after your loved one dies, so you need to make sure that you make claims for any life insurance policies your loved one had.

Two kinds of policies that need to be canceled are health insurance (this includes Medicare supplemental insurance) and dental/vision insurance.

Some utilities may need to be canceled or transferred into just your name. These include cell phones, cable or satellite TV, internet, garbage, water, electricity, and sewer.

Prescription drugs that your loved one had that automatically renew should be canceled. In addition, any upcoming medical appointment should be canceled as well.

Subscriptions may also need to be canceled, if they were just something your loved one was interested in or used. These can include things like Netflix, Amazon Prime, online gaming, movie and TV subscriptions, cloud storage, monthly boxes, music subscriptions, magazines, and newspapers.

For more information about funerals at funeral homes in Macomb, MI, our compassionate and experienced staff at Lee-Ellena Funeral Home can help. You can come by our funeral home at 46530 Romeo Plank Rd., Macomb, MI, 48044 or you can contact us today at (586) 412-8999.

Holding a Funeral Without the Body Present

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Funeral services are part of the cremation services offered in Mount Sterling Heights, MI. There are many instances in which funeral services are held without the body of the deceased being present at the service. It’s not as unusual as it might seem, even with deceased people who are being buried and not cremated.

There are some practical reasons for not having the body of deceased present at a funeral service where burial will follow.

Some people are in no shape to be viewed after they die. Some illnesses ravage the body so savagely that the person is almost unrecognizable by the time they die. The family preserves the dignity of their loved one and keeps mourners from being shocked by not having the body present at the funeral service, even though they will be buried.

In the case of violent murders or deaths where the body is already badly decomposed, there is nothing that will make those people who’ve died look presentable for a funeral, so their bodies will be absent from the funeral service.

Some families, even though the body of the deceased is in good shape, simply choose not to have the body present. Sometimes this is for emotional reasons, especially if family members are having an extremely hard time dealing with the death of a loved one. If the body of the person who has died isn’t in sight, then it’s easier to keep some level of emotional calmness during the funeral service.

However, most cases of a body deceased person not being present at a funeral service involve cremation. A funeral service can be held before or after the cremation, but in either case, the body of the person who died doesn’t have to be present.

Usually, funeral services for people who’ve been cremated are held after the cremation, but some families choose to hold the funeral service before their loved one is cremated. Other than funeral services where the family decides not to have the body of the deceased present, there are other types of funeral services where the body of the person who died is not present.

One of these types of funeral services is a wake celebration. Wake celebrations are parties held to honor the person who died and to give them the right kind of sendoff to make sure they keep going upward toward heaven. There are many communities in American where this is a funeral service tradition.

Another type of funeral service is a memorial service at a location the family of the deceased chooses. While there may be some spiritual components to this type of funeral service, the main focus is to remember the person who died and to talk about what they personally meant to the people attending. There are often video presentations, memory walls, and food and drinks at this kind of funeral service.

An achievement memorial service is also a type of funeral service held after someone has been cremated. The focus of achievement memorial services is to highlight the achievements of the person who has died, as well as the contributions they made their families, their communities, their work, and, maybe even, to the world, and what benefits that brought.

Church memorial services are also a type of funeral service that is held after cremation. This funeral service is led by the clergy member of the deceased’s home church and has a very definite spiritual focus, with prayers and scriptures composing the majority of the service.

How Weddings and Funerals are Similar

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Attending funerals at funeral homes in Mount Sterling Heights, MI may feel very similar to attending weddings for you. If you feel this way, you’re not alone. Many people lump weddings and funerals together as the two life events they least like to attend.

There is a reason for this. Weddings and funerals have many things about them that are similar, even though weddings are happy life events and funerals are sad life events.

The first similarity between weddings and funerals is that are very emotional. At weddings, emotions soar to the highest heights, as everyone is enthralled at the union of a couple who has a whole new, and potentially, wonderful life ahead of them. At funerals, on the other hand, emotions sink to the deepest lows, as the life of someone who was loved has ended and friends and family must go on without them.

Another similarity between weddings and funerals is that everyone dresses up. At weddings, the dress-up clothes are bright and colorful, while at funerals, the dress-up clothes are dark and muted. Women wear high heels and lots of jewelry to weddings, while they wear flat shoes and little to no jewelry at funerals.

Weddings and funerals are also alike in that there are a lot of flowers. At weddings, flowers adorn the platform where the bride and groom will take their vows. Flower girls strew petals from flowers down the aisle in advance of the bride. Groomsmen have flowers in the lapels of their jackets. The bride tosses a wedding bouquet of flowers over her head toward the single ladies to see which one will walk down the aisle next (or, so the tradition says).

At funerals, plants, flower arrangements, flower wreaths, and flower sprays surround the casket during the funeral service. Pallbearers may wear flowers in their lapels. And at the gravesite, flowers are placed around and on the casket in preparation for burial. In some funeral traditions, mourners either lay a single flower on the casket at the cemetery, or they thrown them onto the casket once it’s lowered into the grave and before the grave is covered.

Another similarity between weddings and funerals is that things are organized by a director. For weddings, a wedding director takes care of all the details of the arrangements to make sure the wedding goes off without a hitch (this includes decorations, catering, the wedding cake, and making sure everyone’s where they’re supposed to and on time).

With funerals, the funeral director takes care of all the details of the arrangements to make sure that the deceased has an honorable and respectable funeral without any things happening that could cause the family consternation or increase their stress.

Weddings and funerals also can involve the family having conflicts over the service or the décor. We’ve all heard the gorilla bride stories where usually the mother of the bride (and perhaps the mother of the groom) and the bride fight over every single detail of the service and the décor. Similarly, families can often have major disagreements about funerals, including the service and the décor.

A final similarity is that weddings and funerals are both events that involve saying goodbye to someone you love. When a father gives his daughter away, he and his wife are saying goodbye in a sense to her as solely a part of their family. While this is a soft goodbye, it still brings tears. At a funeral, however, the goodbye is final for this life. And it also brings tears.

For more information about funerals at funeral homes in Mount Sterling Heights, MI, our compassionate and experienced staff at Lee-Ellena Funeral Home can help. You can come by our funeral home at 46530 Romeo Plank Rd., Macomb, MI, 48044 or you can contact us today at (586) 412-8999.

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