Preemptive Funerals

December 11, 2002 5:40 PM

Dress Rehearsal Rag:Well we have pre-nuptials; trial separations; 30-day pre-purchases; secondary virginity and revirginizing and preemptive wars: so why not hold your own funeral while you're still lively enough to enjoy it?
posted by MiguelCardoso (7 comments total)

Every drunken party I've ever hosted has been a dress rehearsal for my wake.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:27 PM on December 11, 2002

I lived in Montana some years back, and had a lot of friends on the Flathead indian reservation. Went to a party once thrown by an old indian who had actually decided his life was done. He threw an all day bash, one by one said goodbye to the people that had meant something to him, gave away everything he owned in person, and at the end of the day walked into the mountains to die. It's one of the most moving days I've ever experienced. I had never understood, until that day, what the term "personal power" meant.
posted by MidasMulligan at 7:45 PM on December 11, 2002

*shudder*

What a story, Midas.

But then, the (too many) times I've been near someone dying, it's always seemed like a decision has been made; at least not to go on fighting for something so clearly cherished and loved. There never seemed to be any hatred for the live lived; only the regret (though I'm not sure it was that) it could no longer be lived the way it deserved.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:03 PM on December 11, 2002

The bluebloods are staging their own advance funeral parties - how very goth!

I guess you should at least do some planning...otherwise you never know what your friends and family might say and do.

There certainly are some funeral parties that it would seem a shame to miss. All in all, though, I'd just as soon have someone else be the guest of honor.
posted by madamjujujive at 8:38 PM on December 11, 2002

Now I have Leonard Cohen stuck in my head.
posted by Hildago at 10:13 PM on December 11, 2002

Of course, the best laid plans are no match for the whims of the Grim Reaper. For example, silent film star Lupe Velez.
posted by samuelad at 10:55 PM on December 11, 2002

Talk about jumping the gun...
posted by dum2007 at 3:11 AM on December 12, 2002