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Death is a scary word. The word Dying may even be scarier. Maybe because the word dying precedes the actual process of death? Whatever......... Today, right now, any of my"scary" thoughts or fears about death and dying have been eradicated after reading an article titled "No Fuss Funerals" on the front page of the Sunday Free Press.

After reading that the "cost of dying skyrockets" , my old scary thoughts have been changed into new scary thoughts of anger, revenge and sarcasm. These new scary thoughts are very efficient, psychological weapons for a person like me who diligently fights to remain optimistic, free-spirited and loving in times of crisis and adversity. I would like to freely use my weapons now..................

Personally, I love reading the Detroit Free Press. The paper is delivered to my house and I read it every day. I believe the Free Press deserves a Pulitzer Prize for its investigative journalism regarding the mayoral scandal. I have no problem, gripe or complaint about any journalist or content. However, today I read something that perhaps I did not need to know. Or maybe I did because it got me thinking. Today I read that "the cost of dying skyrockets" and the "national average funeral is $7000.00".

Now, I realize that the article has more substance to it than these two bits of information, but I truly could not get past the actual wording of "the cost of death skyrockets". It seemed so, well, ridiculous. We know that the cost of everything is going up, but death? Skyrocketing? What a concept. So here I go, off into my new scary thoughts..............

"Great.............. Now I can't even afford to die properly," was my first thought. When I read that the "national average cost of a funeral is $7000.00", my brain immediately registered this number in its memory bank. It then bounced it around and around and around until it computed that we did not have an extra $7000.00 laying around for a proper funeral.

Or, for that matter, if we are going "all out", we need an additional $7000.00 for a funeral for my husband. I know this man would most certainly have some sort of attack when he heard about the cost of death skyrocketing. So now I'm up to $14.000.00 for the two of us. And I haven't gone grocery shopping yet. Yikes.

So, instead of going into fear, doom and gloom, I start to justify spending $7000.00 on my funeral. Trust me, my husband and I have come a long way with the financial talks. But I have been avoiding this months budget talk like the plague. It's not pretty. In fact, we may be going down in flames this month, which is actually not all that bad considering the cost of an average funeral.

So, I take a breath and think.........Hmmmm........$7000.00. Because, realistically, it always comes down to a number. And, in my opinion $7000.00 is quite a hefty sum. I really need to sell this to my husband so I have to make it good. How about.........

"Oh, honey, by the way, we need to squeeze an extra $7000.00, for each of us, out of somewhere if we want to budget for the "proper" funeral.... after all, we don' t want the Joneses to talk about us after we die do we?"

or

"Well, as I was trying to put together a decent, realistic budget for Christmas, I found out if it's my time, we'll need at least $7000.00 for a funeral. Why can't I just spend it now?"

maybe...

"Yes, I know we don't have it now but we are going to NEED it when we die. Can't we just charge it?"

this is good.........

"I know that $7000.00 is a lot of money for one pair of shoes, but aren't they fabulous?..... I mean I needed to wear something to my funeral"

After I come out of my justification mode and realize that I am truly considering spending $7000.00 on a pair of shoes, I decide that reading this article was good for me. I start to empathize with the families and the losses mentioned in the article. I do know what it is like to lose a loved one and provide for a funeral. My brother died in 1989 and it was a very dark time in our lives.

However, now that we have made it through the years and are doing the best we can in spite of all the doom and gloom, I remember something very interesting that pertains to this whole blog.

Back in 1987 I drove a beat- up car, had a waitress's job, and some great friends. I shared an apartment with 2 others and lived footloose and fancy free. But most of all what I remember now, after reading this morning's article and thinking about all the debt and economic problems today is a bumper sticker I loved and thought was hilarious. It read "Get Even, Die In Debt". Coincidence, I think not............

Labels: cost of funeral, death and dying