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"Are you kidding me, it's in the Bible......follow the dying person's last wish!"   It is not often that my husband invokes the Bible, he is an atheist after all.  But when he does, he is serious, and he is expressing the fact something is ancient.  Not just some new trendy idea -- it dates back to biblical times. We had been discussing the fallout of my mother's memorial service. Yes, such an event can have fallout. And from my vantage point of an estate planning and probate attorney, I can tell you that it happens more often than not.  But here I was, the daughter, not the attorney, in the mini-drama surrounding her final wishes. Thankfully that legal education of mine fortified my backbone, allowing me to stand tall and carry out her wishes, despite the descent of her grieving relatives. With no uncertain terms, she had clearly expressed her wishes to me from the passenger seat of my Honda Civic.  Sick for many years, we often found ourselves wi...

My phone chimed, indicating a new Facebook alert. Quick downward swipe of my fore finger and there it was, notice that the Mary and Baby Jesus planter had a new home! Relieved, a smile enveloped my face knowing that: one, I managed to keep this item out of a landfill; and, two, a piece of my mom and dad would live on in the home of neighbors who know the meaning of “it takes a village”. The expression “you cannot take it with you” has never had more impact on me than it did at the moment I read that comment. You die, but your stuff remains. And then the question, where will it all go? Her final breath came on a Sunday, two days after Valentine's Day. One audible exhale akin to sinking into a warm bath, and my mother's earthly days came to an end. It took a few moments for the reality to sink in. She was gone. Both of my parent's were now gone. At age 40 I was an orphan. Sobs finally arrived, having been stoic during her final months, as her body clearly shut d...