Talking about death….

We are staying with some good friends who live around the Chester area. We are all in the over 60 Brigade.

We were having breakfast together this morning and somehow the topic of death came up. We are all old enough that we have had friends pass away and also parents and in my case my oldest son.

So, the discussion turned to funerals we had been to and the music played during the proceedings. Though there will be many traditionalists out there who would expect a hymn or two to be played at their funeral, recently there seems to be a change.

Often now, those of us arranging a funeral for someone we have known well and loved tend to pick songs that the deceased would have liked in life. Some of the choices can be quite eclectic, but they can be more in keeping if it reflects the person’s character.

For my son we played ‘Star Trekking’ a song he liked and one that reflected his character and sense of humour. I’m sure some of those gathered – especially those colleagues who may not have known him so well – may have been shocked by the irreverence of the song. There were I’m sure some raised eyebrows when the line came up in the song ‘…. It’s worse than that, he’s dead Jim, dead Jim, dead….’ My daughter and I on either side of his coffin, couldn’t help but smile through our tears. But we knew he would be looking down on us and heartily approve.

We talked about what we would want for ourselves and there was quite a range. Not a hymn amongst them! Some of them were quite humorous and it set us all thinking about what we might like. A pretty morbid subject I know but well worth discussing.

Perhaps we should have a discussion my husband and I? However, I’m not absolutely sure I’m ready!