Something that confronts many of us when we lose someone dear is the thought ‘Why didn’t I tell him/her how I really felt about them when they were alive?’.  It is a great burden to many people that the words they are writing in a eulogy are words that they wish with all their hearts they could say to their love ones face to face.

It is a tragedy when we lose people suddenly, before we have had a chance to say all we wish to say to them.  Sometimes, though, people know that their time with us is limited.  They know that soon they will die.  This is where the ‘Living Wake’ comes in.

The Living Wake is exactly the same as a funeral, but the person has not yet passed.  As people are discussing death more openly and pre-planning funerals, this type of celebration is becoming more popular.  The person who is dying gets to see all those family members they haven’t seen, perhaps for many years, who would attend their funeral.  They get to hear the love felt for them.  They get to laugh along with everyone over their funny, silly habits, lovingly expressed.  They get to speak themselves about their life and their love for everyone.  They get to hear their favourite poems and music.  They get to see a photographic tribute.  The burden of their situation is perhaps lightened.  Maybe it even allows them to let go of their worries about those they are leaving behind and face their death content and accepting.

As for the family and friends of the dying, they get to write and say all those loving words we all find so hard to say face-to-face.  Their grief is eased.

When the person does pass, immediate family can then have their own small funeral, knowing that all they wished to say to their loved one, was said and heard.

Can you imagine how much love is in a room in a ceremony such as this?