Wrapping Up a Life

Last month I was informed that a beloved uncle had died. This was the second uncle to pass in as many months. Thankfully both uncles had spoken with me to get their plans in place and had communicated their plans, but even after their death more elements came to light that needed further attention. This second uncle was based in Northern Ireland, so within days of finding out about his death I was on the road to wrap up his life.

Widowed and without children, he had asked me to look after everything once he was gone. This ranged from meeting his friends and neighbours with their shock and grief, sorting through his home, packing up his belongings, dealing with the death registry, contacting banks, arranging his memorial and organising his resomation (water cremation). This wrapping up process helped me feel a purpose through my coming to terms with his death. It also helped me put his end of life plans into action, which I hadn’t done before. It was both informative and enlightening as there are different processes in Northern Ireland compared to the Republic of Ireland. His friends and family all gathered for two events, which gave great opportunity for shared stories, gathering of photos and mementos. Putting together a booklet for the events, along with a video afterwards that captured moments from both events, as well as the photo montage of his life, has given everyone a memento of their relevance in his life, as well as something to reflect on whenever he comes to mind.

So, in wrapping up a life, I am now seeing opportunity to honour my uncle’s legacy by continuing on his eagerness to both be prepared and make things easier for his loved ones after he was gone.

He will be missed and always fondly remembered.

One month later I have most of my uncles administrative affairs dealt with, now just waiting for the banks to finalise everything, and then we are all done. I have been sharing my learnings through TikTok, which may help you if you are in a similar predicament, or even to help you consider additional aspects towards your advance planning. I am intrigued by this platform as I am new to TikTok, even amassing over 14,000 views on my post about funeral costs! Check out https://www.tiktok.com/@livinglegacy.ie and please follow me for most posts yet to come!

I am keen to now explore developing an additional support for people, both at end of life (which I had shied away from) and also a concierge service for those who have loved ones either nearing the end, or recently deceased, to help make the administrative process easier. If you are interested to learn more please do sign up to my newsletter (www.livinglegacy.ie) where you will be given access to research and opportunities to input into this process.

So before you wrap up your life, consider how best you can be prepared, and then live it.

And if you want to discuss how I can help please reach out to me at [email protected].

I look forward to helping you navigate the journey.

Jen

Jennifer McConnell (Founder of Living Legacy)