By Carmen Potterton
Growing up, my family was very close. There was always an occasion to get together, whether it was a birthday, wedding, anniversary, any excuse, or none, we were all there, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Keep in mind Grandma and Grandpa had six kids who all had kids of their own, we were quite the group.
When we found out that Grandpa had terminal cancer, the get togethers still happened but now they included every procedure or surgery that Grandpa had. The entire family would converge on the doctor's office or hospital, wherever he had to be. This went on for about three years, even though we knew it was terminal cancer, we still kept hoping and Grandpa kept fighting.
All of Grandpa's brothers and sisters came for Thanksgiving to see him. Those were our biggest get togethers. We played cards, talked, and just enjoyed being together. When Thanksgiving was over and everyone had gone home, Grandpa took a turn for the worse and we had to call in Hospice.
As always, the whole family was there. We all took turns helping care for him and Grandma. It was a difficult time for everyone. Now, this part may seem a bit morbid but we were all trying to prepare for the inevitable and all of us girls had gone to a local store to use the photo machine to prepare Grandpa's obituary. We were checking out when everyones phones started ringing, Grandpa had died while we were gone.
Even though we all thought we were prepared, it was a horrible blow to the whole family. Dealing with the death of someone we loved was the hardest thing our family had ever done. It was a great relief to all of us to find out that Grandpa had already taken care of things in regards to his funeral. He had chosen the funeral home, the Church, the cemetery, everything. It eased the burden on the entire family, so we could deal with our grief and not worry about the details of what had to happen next. Save your family the extra burden of having to plan your funeral, talk to someone at Cooper & Adel Financial.
