Dear Judy,
My live-in partner and I are having the most ridiculous ongoing quarrel, and maybe you can help. He says he’ll read what you have to say, anyway.
The issue: When I die I want to be cremated (He was born Baptist, and wants all the costly hideious trimmings including embalming).
My friend says [...]
Dear Judy,
Maybe you get other emails like this, I don’t know. What advice do you have for overcoming the emotional barriers to planning for one’s own demise? Especially when you are feeling healthy and vibrant (even if I do have a few grey hairs…)
I am 44. I find discussing issues relating to my own death [...]
Dear Judy,
I know this is an off-the-wall question (my girlfriend at least thinks so), but I’m the type who likes to think ahead. Besides, I’ve had prostate cancer in the past, and while they think that’s cleared up pretty well, what the hell do doctors really know?
So I’ve been thinking about The End. And decided [...]
Naturally, we’re all looking for ways to acquire happy endings. To most people this means not dying. Or maybe dying very, very old and only in our sleep. However, in California, the home of happy endings, three entrepreneurial spirits (among them a notary and the owner of the Steward-Pearce Mortuary in Long Beach) managed to make a bundle [...]
Dear Judy,
My family is Jewish, observant some years but not others (don’t ask. This year, no Seder. Last year we had one). I am 18 years old. My grandmother is dying: she has Alzheimer’s, but also other things are badly wrong with her. My parents think she doesn’t have much time left and they are quarreling [...]
Dear Judy,
I see from your web site that you’re a big fan of cheap funerals and cheap burials. Maybe you’ll understand my dilemma. My whole family hates me and thinks I’m cold and hard just because I want my sister, when she passes, to be cremated.
My sister hates the idea of cremation. She has Stage IV ovarian cancer, [...]
How much can you pay for a coffin?
Well, if you check in with your local funeral director a few hours after the death of someone you loved, you might be guided to an Omega bronze casket with a hammered exterior. That will set you back $25,000.
Too much? A Norris 16-gauge steel casket with a [...]
Dear Judy,
I’d say I have maybe half a year to live, maybe less (malignant glioma, just like Ted Kennedy’s), and I’m making all the usual preparations. But I am also sick with worry of the effect of my plans on my daughter who is now 19 and in college.
My husband and I always planned to [...]
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Posted on January 24th, 2009