Step #1- A New Reality

It’s 4 AM and you wake up from a nightmare in a cold sweat. Something is wrong. You can feel it. Then you remember that your spouse died last night. Your heart is broken and you are waking up to a new reality. This death could have been from a long illness, or it could have been one of the 40% of sudden and unexpected deaths in the Country. Most likely you are one of the 80% of wives whose husband died first.

To make matters worse, you are responsible for dealing with their death…

What do you do?

Who do you call?

Your next steps often depend on where, when and how your loved one died. If he/she died at home, it is often the local funeral home that transfers your spouse to the closest location. If the death was sudden, the ambulance may have been called, and the body could be transferred to a coroner for an autopsy. In either case, having a plan is essential. Whether expected or not, death is messy and traumatic, and those without a plan will suffer needlessly.