“Shuffling off to Buffalo. Pushing up daisies.
“You can avoid the word, you just can’t avoid the event,” joked Melbourne grandmother Veronica Greenfield as she reflected on the inevitability of death.
“It is inevitable, it is going to be. There is no getting out of this… No one is going to escape this. This is a responsibility that you have to not leave your mess for others to clean up,” she added.
The finality of death really hit home after her parents died unexpectedly some time ago. She was left having to make funeral arrangements at a time of profound grief. The experience of engaging a traditional funeral director felt a bit disingenuous.
“They were people who were strangers participating in what was a profound and intimate moment in our family’s history with no prior knowledge of us at all, and no prior knowledge of the person who had died… It didn’t feel like it had a deeper meaning," she said.
Thinking about end-of-life generally, Veronica realised that each person leaves behind a story, or legacy, from their life. She wondered what her own final story was going to be.
“I started to think about what I wanted to leave for my family, and what they would have to deal with at that same time. I didn’t want to have them deal with the sorts of experiences that my siblings had.
“If I went suddenly, I hoped it’s not going to be a catastrophe for my family. It will likely be sad, but it won’t be a catastrophe for them.”
With her five children spread across three states, Veronica has prepaid her funeral with Bare to make a hard process less complicated for her family when the time comes.
“I didn’t want my children and my family to have to contest with the stress of trying to work out where they are going to get the money,” she said.
Death is your own responsibility
“My life has been my responsibility, my death is my responsibility,” Veronica said.
There are some family members less financially secure than others, so she wanted to avoid placing the financial pressure of paying for a funeral on them.
“I just liked the simplicity of Bare. It just appealed to my sense of ‘don’t make something that’s hard [more] complicated,” she added.
She did some desktop research and looked into the customer feedback and support from Bare’s social media community and felt reassured that the level of service and care was authentic.
“It was really simple and I appreciated that. I couldn’t see anything in the contract that would place me or my money at risk and it would make it really easy for my family at the time.”
“The whole process for me had been seamless and respectful.”
The importance of celebrating life
When it comes time for people to celebrate her life, the former teacher and social worker wants her legacy to live on in her family, including her nine grandkids.
“I just want my family and friends to turn up to just say, “she had an interesting and really enriched life and left behind these fantastic people as a legacy. And good job girl, here’s to you!’ ”
Veronica shares her story in the below video.
To learn more about Bare or get a quote for a prepaid funeral, please visit bare.com.au or give our award-winning customer care team a call on 1800 202 901.
