My mum hates parties. She gets really nervous beforehand and doesn't enjoy them that much when she's there. She'd rather have an informal picnic in the park than a formal funeral. The last thing that would appeal to her is to do what 56 year old Andy Fitchett is planning on doing: being at his own wake. ( I spotted this story on 15/2/07 on BBC News.)
Andy Fitchett has been diagnosed with cancer and has been given 6 months to live. He set about planning who needed to be contacted when he dies. "Sorting all my stuff out made me start to think about all the people who had come into my life and touched it. You meet loads of people, make lots of friends but sometimes you don't stay in touch, despite having the best of intentions. I realized I wanted to thank them all for being part of my life and being my friend, that's why I decided to go and organize my own wake."
Andy is doing it in style. He's booked Swindon Town Football Club and is selling tickets for the night. Proceeds will go to charity.
One of the commonest comments at funerals is "John/Jane would have loved this." I suppose there's no point in having a great party and not being there to enjoy it. It is becoming more commonplace to be told that you only have so long to live. It was the Aids generation that started making living wills popular (especially because there was so much fear that loved ones would be cut out of the mourning process.) so perhaps Andy will lead a new fashion in not only preparing funerals in advance, but actually being there.
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