How much planning have you done? How does it compare to the amount of planning done on average in this country?
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Wednesday, May 15, 2013 by Sarah Whitman-Salkin
Category: Interesting
How does a funeral home advertise its services without being crass, creepy, or morbid? A Japanese funeral home, Nishinihon Tenrei, has tried (and succeeded, we think) by creating a beautiful ad featuring a skeleton made from pressed flowers. The agency that created the ad, I&S BBDO, wrote about the challenges of the project:
The March 11th...
Friday, May 10, 2013 by Lauren Thaler Kahn
Category: A Matter of Life and Death
In honor of Mother’s Day, I would like to share a tribute to my mother that I read in front of friends and family 3 ½ years ago at her funeral. I sat down to write this eulogy a couple weeks before my mother died. I was in a rocking chair next to her bed, keeping her company as she dozed. Initially, I thought this would be the hardest thing I would ever write. But the truth is, as I watched her sleep, I took comfort in knowing she was lost in a dream-world instead of plagued by her dark reality—and the words poured out of me like I too was lost in a world of dreams. Dreams that brought me back to the imaginary games we played when I was younger, hearing her...
Thursday, May 9, 2013 by Sarah Whitman-Salkin
Category: Interesting
This Sunday, as is tradition in the United States on the second Sunday in May, children will celebrate their mothers with cards and flowers and drugstore chocolates—the single day of the year when mothers are supposed to be pampered and recognized for all that they do.
For many of us, the commercialism that has become the "holiday" that is essentially about respecting your mother seems more than a little absurd. If you're in this camp—offended by the price of carnations in May, repelled by a mimosa brunch, and someone who...
Wednesday, May 8, 2013 by Sarah Whitman-Salkin
Category: Interesting
An obituary that ran in a Portland, Oregon newspaper last week featured some unmistakably familiar names...
Margaret Groening is the mother of Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons. Her family (or at least their names) clearly served as the inspiration for many of Springfield's most famous characters.
Friday, May 3, 2013 by Sarah Whitman-Salkin
Category: Useful
We know it's not the most fun-times subject, but organizing and sharing your online assets (aka your digital assets, aka your digital estate, aka your digital afterlife) is a hugely important, never-before-faced issue that all of us who live on the Internet are going to have to deal with. (If you're reading this blog post, there's a pretty good chance you spend quite a bit of your life online, like we do.)
Tuesday, April 30, 2013 by Lauren Thaler Kahn
Category: A Matter of Life and Death
About a week before my mom died, she asked me not to leave her side. She was in a hospital cot next to her actual bed at home. I stayed with her, slept in her bed next to her cot at night, and would often lay my arm across the 12 inches of air space between us, letting my skin touch her skin so she knew I was there when she stopped talking and opening her eyes. But after several days of this, I got restless. I took breaks and watched episodes of LOST in the living room. I delayed my return to her bedroom. I took phone calls outside.
These moments spent away from my mother during her final days fill me with regret. What if she woke up and regained...
Monday, April 29, 2013 by Sarah Whitman-Salkin
Category: Interesting
Gretchen Rubin, author of the mega-bestselling book The Happiness Project, gave Everplans a lovely shout-out on her blog this weekend.
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Thursday, April 25, 2013 by Sarah Whitman-Salkin
Category: Interesting
In the May issue of The Atlantic, Jonathan Rauch looks into the work of two doctors, Dr. Angelo Volandes and his wife Dr. Aretha Delight Davis, who are making a series of videos to help people make better end-of-life decisions. The videos are a response to what Dr. Volandes believes is "the most urgent issue facing America today...people getting medical interventions that, if they were more informed, they would not want."
Tuesday, April 23, 2013 by Sarah Whitman-Salkin
Category: Interesting
Friend-of-Everplans Mark Dimor is producing a documentary that we think is both powerful and important. The film is inspired by the experience Mark had of caring for his wife Donna after she was diagnosed with Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer and given six months to live. Donna immediately began recieving palliative care, which helped her live comfortably and without suffering for three years after her diagnosis—and helped Mark "focus on Donna—not her passing."
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