How does your family handle death?

So sorry to read of your loss, Wenders.

 

I’m sorry. My condolences.

 

@Wenders Thank you for sharing this sad news with us; I have no doubt you provided her with a lifetime of pride and love.

 

So sorry for your loss.

 

Wenders, you are a good egg and I feel very badly about this. Take it day by day and don't put a timetable on your grief.

 

Condolences to you, Wenders.

 

To Starman, Wenders and playthrough, all the best.

Just got back from a funeral. A first cousin of my mother's died ... either MI or stroke in her own place. Was found there. One daughter roughly my age has lost her mother and sister in less than a year, and lost her father a little less than a decade ago. Grandsons - sons of the recently deceased's daughter lost - also lost their father as their parents died in a boat crash less than a year ago. Both guys in their 20s and one still in college.

Rough go at it for the family. This woman's parents made my mother and I feel like their direct family back in the day ... just truly kind people. Small wonder she was my mother's favorite aunt.

 

I've probably mentioned this, but do your family a favor, and weed out your own junk before you go. I'm not talking about things you use or something that has some sort of value. I'm talking about junk. Stuff you personally haven't looked at in 40 years. Nobody in the future will really care about your high school grade cards or a certificate from 4H or a picture of a random tree or that cool Members Only jacket in the back of the closet.
Maybe it's just a thing from my area. I don't know. But the crap people accumulate over a lifetime is insane, and somebody has to figure out what to do with it.
We had to do it when my dad died. Thankfully my mom is still alive, and I doubt he was even embalmed before she started tossing stuff or his and hers both that'd she'd wanted rid of for 20 years. My cousin has had to do it on his own with two places the last couple of years.

 

I just downsized my mom from a three-bedroom townhouse (with basement) to a one-bedroom apartment.

I talked to an auctioneer and he was a great help. He came in and put about 70 percent of my mom’s crap in storage, and gives her a cut of whatever he makes selling it off.

It was hard getting rid of a lot of my dad’s stuff, even though it’s been eight years since he died, but my brothers and I took the stuff we’re not ready to part with yet.

 

My issue there is I am only child, and I don't have kids. I have plenty of cousins on my mom's side, so anything such as photos of my grandparents, etc. I've made sure have already been given to them.
Getting rid of my dad's clothes and stuff like that was no big deal. I have kept some keepsakes from him and my childhood. I limit myself to one storage tub. I have several nieces and nephews on my wife's side. I have already told my nephew who will be in charge of my arrangements: "See that tub. When I'm gone, throw it away. There is nothing of financial value or anything of any significance to anyone other than me in there. Don't even open it. Just throw it away."