Mother and Dad prepaid ALL their funeral expenses years ago. It made it so simple when daddy passed. All we had to do was write the obit and choose flowers. I think we all spent less than 2 hours at the funeral home.
On the flip side, my FIL made NO prior arrangements whatsoever and his kids were like headless chickens. Too them 10 hours to choose a casket (which, BTW was draped in a flag and never "seen". Couldn't figure what to bury him in (duh, he was a Captain in the Fire Dept--I had his dress uniform cleaned and he was buried in that!) Everything was too much, too much drama---the headstone is a monument to 3 kids who felt terribly guilty for not taking great care of a fine man. It's enormous. The day of his funeral was emotional and very draining. Compared to my daddy's, no contest, dad's was a celebration of a fine life well lived, FIL's was a sad mess.
Pre plan!!! We're in the process of doing that right now. I don't want my kids to have to do a thing but pick some flowers, if they want.
On the flip side, my FIL made NO prior arrangements whatsoever and his kids were like headless chickens. Too them 10 hours to choose a casket (which, BTW was draped in a flag and never "seen". Couldn't figure what to bury him in (duh, he was a Captain in the Fire Dept--I had his dress uniform cleaned and he was buried in that!) Everything was too much, too much drama---the headstone is a monument to 3 kids who felt terribly guilty for not taking great care of a fine man. It's enormous. The day of his funeral was emotional and very draining. Compared to my daddy's, no contest, dad's was a celebration of a fine life well lived, FIL's was a sad mess.
Pre plan!!! We're in the process of doing that right now. I don't want my kids to have to do a thing but pick some flowers, if they want.