Remember Me Impressions

Here's a couple of impressions about the new book Remember Me by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen.

• Lisa takes a low key approach to her subject matter, keeping things light hearted without becoming silly.
• She presents a collection of snapshots. Different families and funeral homes and situations which begin to give the impression of a range of possibilities in making funeral choices.
• From the funeral director's point of view, I don't think you will find anything particularly new or different from an ideas standpoint. Everything contained in the book has received coverage in our trade press over the last several years. Still, the book contains many stories and anecdotes which outline real death and remembrance scenarios. A funeral director may well gain some insights into the motivations which cause families to choose alternatives.
• Also the grey text boxes found throughout the book might provide a new model for telling grief stories. In these, Lisa idetifies someone by name and "tells their story" not as we know obituaries, instead as a narrative with feeling. I think we could all benefit from telling better stories at funeral time and with website resources abounding, we have much more flexibility in how we tell those stories since we do not have to work around the local newspaper editor.
• The book could also serve as a resource for talks to civic groups. The more intrepid might even consider adding it to the local book club list as a diversion. It might just open the door to communication with consumers so that you can get a better sense of what people really want from you and your funeral home.
• Bottom line? The I'm Okay, You're Okay generation continues to shape choices in all sorts of areas of life. They aren't going to protest or scream and yell for choices when the funeral comes along. They know they have all the power they need and they will use their mobility, creativity and pocket books to accomplish whatever they want to accomplish for a remembrance. We as funeral directors need to pick one of those waves and ride it, or we continue to risk getting swept out into the sea of irrelevance. In other words, this book belongs in your library.