This evening, a friend of mine in Oklahoma went to visit her father's grave. I went along, willing to accompany someone to their parent's grave because I understand the sheer isolation of going to a cemetery by yourself, searching for the grave of your parent, and being sure that you're never going to find it.
It's one of those pesky side effects of grief: knowing that you stood at the grave site just months ago, but swearing you don't remember this particular location.
Marilyn didn't want to go alone. She's an only child, and she'll be coping with the loss of her father for a while.
This whole death thing is a fact of life; funerals are expensive; and I've experienced all this more than I've wanted to this year.
The funerals I've seen this year (five in total) have ranged in price from $6,500-$15,000.
Earlier in the day, I helped my father-in-law (Dante's stepfather, Tony), walk through some details of planning his sister's funeral. His sister, Antoinette, died unexpectedly yesterday (Monday, Nov. 17).
Tony stood by my side in Parma Hospital as we watched my mother die in March; he raced to get Father Breck and made sure that some of the final details were perfectly in place; he went door to door to funeral homes with me. I have a fierce loyalty to the people who have stood by me, and I hate that Tony is left with planning his sister's funeral.
And Antoinette didn't have life insurance.
The mother of my half brothers died months ago, and she was without life insurance. My brothers are left to foot that bill, which was right around $10,000.
I had an angel watching over me about nine years ago in the form of my Aunt Mae, who pulled me aside and said, "Your mom lives on a fixed income. Find out how much life insurance she has, and then see if you need an additional policy."
It just so happens that Aunt Mae owns her own insurance company; although it's for commercial businesses, she understands the implications of not having life insurance. Her own father had died without life insurance; in her situation, she had 10 brothers and sisters who could pitch in and they also were able to sell his house and use the profits for the burial expenses.
I don't mean to be going off on a tangent, but back to my mother, she did have a life insurance policy of $10,000, but after additional research, I found out that she and my father had borrowed against it. So its value was not $10,000 upon death. It was more like $2,000.
I took out an additional policy, and I paid the premiums. It was deducted every month from my checking account, and it covered a nice funeral for her upon her death.
This isn't very well written, but I'm tired and it's been a long day. My point is: If your parents are still living, find out if they have life insurance, and how much those policies are worth; also, make sure that you have life insurance.
You don't want to put that burden on your loved ones.
Also, check out this story below about a woman who was stuck paying for her mother's final arrangements. At the very, very low end, this funeral was $3,300.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/11/14/funerals.in.recession.ap/index.html
It's one of those pesky side effects of grief: knowing that you stood at the grave site just months ago, but swearing you don't remember this particular location.
Marilyn didn't want to go alone. She's an only child, and she'll be coping with the loss of her father for a while.
This whole death thing is a fact of life; funerals are expensive; and I've experienced all this more than I've wanted to this year.
The funerals I've seen this year (five in total) have ranged in price from $6,500-$15,000.
Earlier in the day, I helped my father-in-law (Dante's stepfather, Tony), walk through some details of planning his sister's funeral. His sister, Antoinette, died unexpectedly yesterday (Monday, Nov. 17).
Tony stood by my side in Parma Hospital as we watched my mother die in March; he raced to get Father Breck and made sure that some of the final details were perfectly in place; he went door to door to funeral homes with me. I have a fierce loyalty to the people who have stood by me, and I hate that Tony is left with planning his sister's funeral.
And Antoinette didn't have life insurance.
The mother of my half brothers died months ago, and she was without life insurance. My brothers are left to foot that bill, which was right around $10,000.
I had an angel watching over me about nine years ago in the form of my Aunt Mae, who pulled me aside and said, "Your mom lives on a fixed income. Find out how much life insurance she has, and then see if you need an additional policy."
It just so happens that Aunt Mae owns her own insurance company; although it's for commercial businesses, she understands the implications of not having life insurance. Her own father had died without life insurance; in her situation, she had 10 brothers and sisters who could pitch in and they also were able to sell his house and use the profits for the burial expenses.
I don't mean to be going off on a tangent, but back to my mother, she did have a life insurance policy of $10,000, but after additional research, I found out that she and my father had borrowed against it. So its value was not $10,000 upon death. It was more like $2,000.
I took out an additional policy, and I paid the premiums. It was deducted every month from my checking account, and it covered a nice funeral for her upon her death.
This isn't very well written, but I'm tired and it's been a long day. My point is: If your parents are still living, find out if they have life insurance, and how much those policies are worth; also, make sure that you have life insurance.
You don't want to put that burden on your loved ones.
Also, check out this story below about a woman who was stuck paying for her mother's final arrangements. At the very, very low end, this funeral was $3,300.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/11/14/funerals.in.recession.ap/index.html
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