WHO SAYS A GOOD OBITUARY HAS TO BE DULL?

 The traditional obituary is a gloomy collection of dry facts and chilly clichés. The internet has swept away space restrictions and made newspaper deadlines irrelevant. Social media has encouraged us to swap stories and celebrate our loved ones’ lives. Why should today’s tributes rely on the same dull script we followed 30 years ago? It’s time for the old-school obituary to slip into something more contemporary.

How To Write An Online Obituary is a new book just published by Melissa Jayne Kinsey. In the book she shows step by step how to write a fresh, original tribute and create a memorable virtual memorial featuring photos, videos, and music. 

In this interview, I chat with Marnie Summerfield Smith, a full-time memoir writer. We talk about how there is no such thing as an inconsequential life and no reason why everyone should leave some kind of record of their life story as a legacy for the future. Marnie explains a 3 step process to writing your memories and also options of what to do with the memoir when it is finished. If you have ever thought about penning a few lines of your life this episode will give you the tools and hopefully the inspiration to start.

In this interview, I chat with Marnie Summerfield Smith, a full-time memoir writer. We talk about how there is no such thing as an inconsequential life and no reason why everyone should leave some kind of record of their life story as a legacy for the future.

Marnie explains a 3 step process to writing your memories and also options of what to do with the memoir when it is finished. If you have ever thought about penning a few lines of your life this episode will give you the tools and hopefully the inspiration to start. 

In this episode, I interview David Sawyer the founder and CEO of TSOLife - The Story Of Your Life. TSOLife is a unique platform that allows you to create, store and share the story of your days. Whether it's your story or even that of a loved one, TSOLife makes it easy to preserve memories for future generations. Using TSOLife couldn't be simpler. 

For more information visit https://tsolife.com/

An Interview with David Sawyer Founder & CEO of TSOLIFE

TSOLife focuses on creating innovative ways to preserve a legacy and pass down life stories for future generations. Our mission is that no grandchild should have to wonder what their grandparent was like. Our unique solutions create the most personalised way to pass down personal stories that families will share and cherish for generations.

In the last six months, I have written 106 funeral services. Wrapped up in the mystery of those unwelcome days, are four valuable lessons I have learned. Lessons about life and how you can leave a digital legacy for your family. Helping 106 families face death teaches you about life.

A PICTURE PAINTS A THOUSAND DAYS

Look at an old photograph. 
A frozen moment in time.
A time that lives again. 
They live again.

They say a picture paints a thousand words. I say they paint a thousand days. The people in the photograph, though they may no longer be alive, live as you look into their faces. You see their smiles; you can hear in your mind the way they laughed one more time. You can relive that day, that moment, that minute as though they were still here and time had stood still. A thousand days in one image.

"Talking about sex will not get you pregnant, neither will talking about a funeral kill you."

Said Gail Rubin, founder of A Good Goodbye.

“Western funerals: black hearses, and black horses, and fast-fading flowers. Why should black be the colour of death? Why not the colours of a sunset?

— Daniele Varè, The Maker of Heavenly Trousers

"Talking about sex will not get you pregnant, neither will talking about a funeral kill you."

Said Gail Rubin, founder of A Good Goodbye. 

She is right. From my experience, people rarely speak of death. In 106 funerals conducted in the last six months, only a handful of families knew the wishes of their loved one. When they did, it made such a difference. It does not matter how old you are, plan your funeral. 

Lesson Two - Life Is Short

We cannot judge a song by its duration

Nor by the number of its notes;

We must judge it by the way

it touches and lifts our souls.

Sometimes those unfinished

are among the most beautiful.