AMY PICKARD
“
If society would look at death as a natural experience instead of a punishment , there would be a lot less push back .
I was at a death-friendly party thrown by an author who has written about death . I didn ' t feel self-conscious about saying what I do for a living . I was sitting across from a couple in their 40 ' s . They asked , " What do you do ?" I said , " Well , I run an unconventional advanced planning company called Good To Go . I guide people through their advanced planning paperwork .” They were fascinated and kept asking me questions , but the husband would say things like , " So , you do that for people in hospices and senior citizen centers ?” I said , " Yes , I ' ve had clients who have been in hospice or clients who know they have a terminal diagnosis , but I mainly target people like yourselves ."
" For example , do you have a will ? Do you have a living will ? If something happened to both of you , who has keys to your place ? Who knows to talk to the landlord and sort it all out ? Those little things that someone has to know after you die .” He was like , " Yeah , but I mean nobody I know is going to have to know that until later ." I said , “ Oh , well , let me get my pen , so I can write down when you know that date ' s going to be ." His wife kept nudging him with her elbow and rolling her eyes .
He just would not come around to the fact that none of us are guaranteed a tomorrow . We never know when death ’ s going to happen , so why not be prepared now , even if it happens 20 years down the line ? But he was convinced that he wasn ’ t going to die . I asked him . " Do you have an earthquake preparedness kit ?” He said , " Yeah ." I said , " So an earthquake may or not happen to the extent that you would need that kit , but you have it , and yet death is definitely 100 % going to happen , and yet you have nothing prepared .”
Needless to say , they didn ' t spend too much time talking to me after that …
42 | ART OF DYING
“
AMY PICKARD
If society would look
at death as a natural
experience instead
of a punishment,
there would be a
lot less push back.
I was at a death-friendly party thrown by an author who has written about death. I didn't
feel self-conscious about saying what I do for a living. I was sitting across from a couple in
their 40's. They asked, "What do you do?" I said, "Well, I run an unconventional advanced
planning company called Good To Go. I guide people through their advanced planning
paperwork.” They were fascinated and kept asking me questions, but the husband would
say things like, "So, you do that for people in hospices and senior citizen centers?” I said,
"Yes, I've had clients who have been in hospice or clients who know they have a terminal
diagnosis, but I mainly target people like yourselves."
"For example, do you have a will? Do you have a living will? If something happened to
both of you, who has keys to your place? Who knows to talk to the landlord and sort it all
out? Those little things that someone has to know after you die.” He was like, "Yeah, but
I mean nobody I know is going to have to know that until later." I said, “Oh, well, let me
get my pen, so I can write down when you know that date's going to be." His wife kept ��Y�[��[H �]\�[���[� ��[��\�^Y\˂�H�\� ��[����YH\��[� � H�X� ]�ۙHو \�\�H�X\�[�YYH �[ܜ��ˈ�B��]�\�ۛ�� �[�X]8�&\���[�� �\ [� �� � H���H �\\�Y���]�[�Y�]\ [�� YX\���ۈ H[�O��]H �\���[��Y ]H �\۸�&]��[�� �YK�H\��Y[K��[�H]�H[�X\� ]XZ�H �\\�Y�\���]��'HH �ZY �YXZ ��H �ZY ���[�X\� ]XZ�HX^B�܈��\ [� � H^ [� ] [�H ��[�YY ]�] �] [�H]�H] [� Y]X]\Y�[�][ H L H��[�� �\ [�[� Y] [�H]�H��[�� �\\�Y ��'B��YY\�� � �^K ^HY�� �[� ��]X� [YH [�[�� �YHY�\� ]8�)�� � T�шRS�