Often families would receive that fateful call that a relative or friend has passed away. From that moment on, life gets turned upside down. Nothing but questions come to mind and all efforts focus on arrangements that need to be made. Out of town relatives and friends feel they need to drop what they're doing, and find a way to attend the funeral and to be there for the family. Unfortunately, that's not always possible. Sometimes illness, financial constraints, family or work responsibilities prevent the bereaved from attend a funeral. I've personally grieved the loss of family members and dear friends; however, recently I experienced, for the first time, a slow, impending death. I watched my 91 year old Mother for months as she made her transition. I watched her body return to the fetal position, her frail skeletal frame show protruding bones and unpreventable decubitus ulcers, feeding tube challenges, and constant pain. Through it all, though, she never lost her warm smile and her tenacity to fight. I marveled at her strength and wonder if I could ever have that much fortitude. I watched her peacefully die, at home, in her sleep, just as she had said she wanted to die. Freddie Mercury: The lead singer of the band Queen died due to bronchial pneumonia brought on by AIDS in the year 1991. He was world famous for his live performances, great singing ability and charisma. Mercury was a homosexual but was very reticent about his personal life. Based on our experience, there was nothing more thoughtful that Grandma could have done. In the hour of humanity's greatest stress, Grandma had already lessened the trauma of dealing with funeral arrangements. And realistically, who better to make all the choices than her? In spite of their efforts, many states still have a death penalty on the books. Because of the political firestorm, however, very few states actually execute anyone, which gives death penalty opponents another piece of ammunition-the cost of executions. Those states that actually do execute people, most notably Texas and other southern states, get crucified in the media and pop culture as barbaric. There are many books available about this subject. Following this article is a list of books that were recommended to me by other teachers in the field. It is important that you or the parent read them first before reading any of them to the child to be sure that the book is appropriate for that individual child and is in agreement with the family's beliefs about death. By doing a simple search online, you can find a list of great funeral poems that you can read at your mother's funeral. Some of them are sad, some are heart-warming and inspirational, and some are simply sweet. funeral program funeral program funeral program
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