Never talked about and seldom acknowledged is the fact that women have by default one of the worst jobs on the planet, namely final arrangement director. Of all the funerals, cremations and burials that take place in this country each year, nearly two thirds of the estimated 2.3 million deaths will be planned, arranged and ultimately paid for by women, by default because she is the surviving member of their union.
Let’s understand it
It’s a fundamental fact of life that women currently outlive men. So when a funeral is going to take place it’s generally a woman who has to walk through this agonizing series of events, attempt to navigate the multitude of choices, well over 120 in the first 24 hours, and keep her wits about her. All the while she’s feeling the same anxiety, despair, anger, fear, psychological stress that her other loved ones have.
What’s surprising is that, regardless of the fact girls will be making these decisions and history proves it, few women know about this crucial and frequently exceedingly expensive event. It’s not uncommon for a recent widow to have to write a check or authorize the spending of $6,000 to $10,000 in a matter of an hour or two.
Did you know?
Without some understanding of what the final arrangements procedure is that this widow is at the mercy of whomever it is she called to help her make these arrangements. If a couple is average, they will have spent a grand total of 20 minutes or so throughout the whole course of the marriage seriously discussing the subject in any respect. As they used to say, “this is no way to run a railroad.”
Yet, this is exactly what happens thousands of times daily in this country when someone moves away. The fantastic news is advice and help is out there for men and women to find out something about the final arrangements procedure and it does not mean walking into the neighborhood funeral home and get a peek at the new line of caskets for this season. It does not have to cost a dime to make a complete final arrangements strategy and it may be done with the emotional stress, but instead in a reasonable, cost effective yet dignified way for all concerned.
Remember
If a husband and wife, especially the wife, because statistics say she’ll most likely be the one making the agreements in the long run, would take the opportunity to discover some important answers, discuss the topic and write out some sort of preplanning ideas, plenty of psychological injury can be spared. There are a number of general topics that would give girls a simple knowledge base, so that they will not be totally naive when they’re called upon to really coordinate this event.
Know where key documents can be found. What type of funeral do you each want? How much should be invested. Where would you like to be scattered or buried if that’s your choice. Where will the money come from for whatever you’re deciding to do? Have you got a specific Funeral Home in your mind? These are only the rudimentary components, to start the thinking, about the final arrangements’ preparation procedure. You could call or go to a funeral home or cemetery and frequently get booklets that lay out a number of those things you will need to jot down.
Take note!
An even easier method is to just go online and if you look for “final arrangements” or more specific components of what you are thinking about such as; cremation, cemetery lots for sale, etc.. You’ll be amazed at all that is out there for you to find the info you require. The wonderful thing about a few of those sites is that you can actually use an internet program that will enable you to make a plan and utilize their tutorials to learn what you ought to know about something which will happen someday.
You can do your own searches for information such as “cemetery lots for sale”, “cremation arrangements” or just “final arrangements”. Yes women have a job that they would prefer to not have and, for certain, would never use for. Unfortunately, the facts are they’ll find the call and hopefully have heard something about the job before they do.