Making Good Decisions While Grieving

When a loved one passes away, there is often a desire to craft a funeral service that is in line with their own personality, preferences, and life. This can be tough to do when your loved one was an adventurous traveler. It can feel difficult to fit their big personality and life within the walls of a funeral home. But rest assured, there are lots of ways to authentically honor a travel-loving, adventurous person during a funeral service. Here are some ideas to use as inspiration.

Have someone read a poem about travel

Including a poetry reading in the service is a good way to honor the deceased's passion and bring funeral attendees into the right mindset. There are a lot of poets who write about travel and the adventurous spirit. Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Frost, Martha Medeiros, and John Cooper Clarke are a few of them. Browse their work, and see if you come across a poem that makes you think of your deceased loved one. Read it during the service, and it will make others think of them, too.

Play a video about the places your loved one visited

If you have some video editing skills or know someone who does, then you can try putting together a video of some clips or photos that show the deceased on their travels. The video could open with some photos from their first big trip, continue with some video clips of them hiking, boating, or doing whatever else they enjoyed doing at key destinations, and then close with some photos of their later travels. This video can show how the loved one changed throughout their lifetime, but how their love for travel never left them.

Include music about travel and adventure

Music is a part of most funeral services. While it's typical to include more sober music, there's no rule that says this is necessary! You can instead play various songs about travel to honor the deceased's passion. 

Some more subdued, slow songs about travel include:

• A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton
• Travelling by Paper Lions
• Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver

Some more upbeat songs about travel include:

• Waking Up by One Republic
• Born to be Wild by Steppenwolf
• Road Trippin' by Red Hot Chili Peppers

When your loved one was a traveling, adventurous sort, you want to plan a funeral that honors that element of their life. With the tips above, that's exactly what you'll do.

Contact a company like Shepherd Funeral Home to get more tips.