People can still have funerals at funeral homes in Macomb, MI after they die, but some people are also choosing to have a funeral while they are still alive. These people are not all terminally ill, although some are, but are simply aging and realizing that their time in the land of the living is coming to an end sooner rather than later.
A living funeral is a way for people to remember their lives with friends and loved ones before they die. This is an incredibly reassuring event for both the person whose life is being honored and remembered as well as for the friends and family members who attend.
A living funeral doesn’t have to be formal. It can simply be a gathering at a home. All the things that would normally be done during a funeral service or memorial service (and which will still be done after death) can be included. Normally, a meal is part of the service, with friends and family members bringing dishes and drinks for everyone to enjoy.
A living funeral can be recorded or live streamed so that family members and friends who live far away can have a copy of the service or participate in it remotely. Living funerals give friends and family a chance to show their respect, to make amends, to say what’s in their heart, and to honor someone while they’re still alive and they can hear, see, and respond.
One of the biggest regrets that people talk about after somebody they love has died is that they didn’t get a chance to say something, to make peace about something, or just to let the person know how much they were loved and appreciated. Those regrets never leave because they can never be satisfied.
A living funeral can have a portion of time where the person who is being honored can share their deepest thoughts and insights into who they are with everyone who’s participating. This may include reading poems, passages from books, and scriptures that are meaningful to them and it made a difference in their lives. It gives everybody an opportunity to see the person has being honored at the living funeral in a way that they may have seen them before. It can be a very bonding experience for everyone.
Eulogies can also be part of the living funeral. Close friends can be called upon to tell stories and tell those who are participating why the person who is being honored is so special to them and mean so much to them. There will be tears, but there will also be laughter. And there will be love.
Some people also include music as part of their living funerals. This may be their favorite playlists or it may be a compilation put together by family members that signifies important events, like first dates, wedding anniversaries, births of children, or special vacations or trips. Having music as a backdrop adds a special element to living funerals, because music also gives insights into who people are and what makes them tick.
Living funerals are becoming more popular because they give everybody a chance to do what most people only wish they could do after somebody they love dies. One of musician Mike Rutherford’s (Mike and the Mechanics) regrets about his father’s death was all the things that he “wished he could have told him in the living years.”
For more information about living 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.