The final planning

Following a conversation with some good friends, one subject has been on my mind.

Funeral planning. Yup sounds morbid. But actually when there is no reason to be thinking of it, it is more of a fun exercise, there is no heaviness involved as the reality seems a whole lifetime away.

As we were lightly chatting about funeral planning we were all aligned that these ceremonies should honour the wishes of the deceased. We felt any service or ceremony should be a reflection of the personality and style of the person who had passed.

Yet unless explicit wishes have been left about how the event should be conducted, isn't it impossible to know exactly what the wishes of the deceased would be?

So it led us to agree that we should all have a plan for our own funerals and to keep it in a safe place, to be found at the right time.

There are many things to be considered, the music, the speakers, the tone, the location and the food and drink of course!

So here are my thoughts:

1. I would want a few speakers, people who knew me best. Their words need to be honest, real and they should tell stories that make people smile and chuckle. Not too embarrassing but I guess the best stories might need to be! I trust you here guys.
2. I would want a moment, where people laughed out loud and had a strong memory of the person who I was.
3. There would maybe be a song that people associated with me, maybe one that I danced crazy to at a party once. Not sure what the song would be.
4. Location is a tricky one, but right now I would have to plunge for my home city in Switzerland.
5. Ashes, well given I am a pragmatic and practical person I would like to also be that in my passing, so I would like my ashes to be scattered on the tomatoes at the bottom of the garden. I am not sure even if this is allowed, but again to honour me, I would encourage those of you left to make the choice, to do it anyway and pretend you never knew there were such regulations :-) Blame it on me!
6. Also there would need to be a gathering afterwards, it would have to be somewhere I liked to go, not too stuffy and dull, and there needs to be good wine served and actually a few mojitos would not got a miss.
7. And definitely crisps. Tons of salt and vinegar crisps, ideally Walkers and not the Swiss ones by Lays - they are not vinegary enough.
8. And finally, I want everyone there. No excuses. I will leave a sum of money for the travel fund, so remember to remind those who are sorting out my finances that I wrote that here!!

So these are my first thoughts, I might need to deepen them a little.

Anything I have missed or could add to make the thinking more complete.

Is there something you have ever thought about?

Do let me know........