Has anyone planned their own ending?

Guess this doesn't fit too well under "Entertainment" but "Debate" seemed even weirder. ?

 

So, personally, I have not planned my own end. I'm twenty-six and that seems a bit premature (although never a bad idea to be prepared!). But, I can tell you about my father.

He killed himself a couple years ago, so he took planning to the nth degree. And, I mean, the dude was meticulous in EVERYTHING he did. I had to throw away twenty years worth of receipts after he was gone, which should give some indication how anal retentive he was. He left a ten page briefing for me and my brother on how to take care of all of his finances, taxes, services on his house, mortgage, everything you could think of.

Now, it was a bit morbid, right? To know that he planned his own death for probably a year or more, but it was really easy for us (his children) to take care of everything that needs taking care of.

Speaking as someone who had to take charge in dealing with death affairs, I would say it's really helpful to the people by which you're survived, the ones who have to take care of spreading ashes, arranging funerals, wake, etc. This sounds selfish, but I'm thankful my father took the time he did to plan everything. It allowed me to grieve and not have to think too hard about anything.

 

Nope. I haven't. But at the age of 67 I probably should. I guess the closest my husband (age 71) and I have come is deciding who to give our photo collections to. But hey. Have we made this official? No. We do have wills made and stored with the lawyers, and we also have established power of attorney in case one or both of us become incapacitated and unable to manage our affairs. But my husband doesn't have any living relatives at all—he was an only child—and mine are in the USA. We have no dependents. So I guess we don't feel the pressure as much as some people do.

 

It's probably a good idea to write a letter and store it someplace, so the people who inherit and/or have to deal with funeral arrangements, etc, have an idea what you would want them to do.

I know I plan to downsize my possessions over the next couple of years, categorise favourite things and indicate who I would like them to go to. Especially as I won't have anybody who knows me well dealing with this stuff.

 

Yeah, it's kind of weird to sit here talking about how grateful I am that my dad was a bit of a looney toon, but it made an extremely difficult transition almost seamless. I know that when I get older I'll be doing something similar for my children. But my death will not be planned like his, so I'll have to keep a running file...or something, haha.

 

Yes. I will be freeze dried and made into fertilizer for a plant. Done, and done.

 

I just want to be cremated and scattered—doesn't really matter where. I want to be free and I don't want to come back as a skeleton in 1000 years' time to either scare people or get landed in some future university for students to put silly hats on and stick cigarettes between my (remaining) teeth.

 

Everyone's shelling out for these fancy "guaranteed fossilization" packages nowadays, but I want to do it the old fashioned way. Just drop me in a silty, silty river and let nature take its course.

 

I wanna be a tree!!

 

I had promised my dad that if I could I would get his body and chuck it in the woods for him. Barely over a year ago he died. I got caught absconding with his body. It took about 9 hours for the DA to be convinced that he was my dad and I was simply going to chuck him in the woods. I walked, he got cremated......after a new examination....to make sure....he wasn't....violated ....in some way.

Good thing I was born without the embarrassment gene.

 

It's nice for children to have a place to go...a grave...I miss that...tho funny - Mum only retrieved father's ashes the other week, after four years. I think this is quite usual in the trade. Bugger never left me any clues, stories, or bits of paper, nothing, no mystery from him tho he still floats about Linkedin. Sometimes I google his name, an old picture from the 1950s pops up [among many images.] I'm so desperate to link the two, but it's not him, some other 'venture scout, jamboree 1957.'

As for my own ashes, wife says she'll toss me over Beachy Head, 'among friends' she says, and cackles her delightful throaty cackle.

Possibly I'll save for a mausoleum? Franco's exquisite, or decadent, or well-managed grave - and park - receives hardly any visitors ever. I always think that's rather sad for Franco...and for falangists everywhere, very few falangists left these days, maybe in the future...the way things are going...ya
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Hospices and people who work in hospices, can't say enough good things about those people. But for a mortal, you have to step away from death a while, it's so exhausting all that grief

...

 

Come to the States, we've got plenty over here. Or rather, always have had plenty, but now they're not shy about it...

 

I'm tentatively entering middle age, and though I act and look much younger-- the reality is the road behind me is much longer than the road left ahead... so I do think on the end, from time to time. I've long since donated my body to science, as an organ donor, and after that phase is complete it's on to medical school and dissection. I'm not actually sure what happens to the remaining me after that.

 

If our tax dollars were being used primarily on cutting edge research (cell modification or even robots), instead of all the bull shit, many of us younger folk might not have to plan our deaths. It's a shame.

 

I plan to leave my crap behind for whoever wants it (I would take my drum kit, but I don't think I can take it considering my plans).
I want to donate my body to science, cause at least I will be useful in some capacity instead of being worm chow.

 

My wife wants her ashes released on top of a mountain (She doesn't really care which one).
I want a Viking funeral. (She still thinks I'm kidding.)

 

"Traditional high-ranking Viking funerals cremated the deceased on land first and then sent a separate burning pyre out to sea. Assuming you have the right permits, you too can dispose of cremated ashes in the water, and you might even be able to set fire to a small raft with the cremated ashes and a few personal trinkets on top."

Before anyone says it's illegal, there are ways around it.

 

Lots of people want their bodies donated to science. I want my body donated to comedy.