IT’S A PARTY

Grieving can cost you dearly, taxing your emotions and your finances. Traditional services are held to a quickened timeline, making the process even more overwhelming. For a number of reasons there is a rising trend in celebration of life parties, which allow family and friends to treat a loved one’s passing how they wish, when they wish.

Bob Tucker, owner of Events by Miss Daisy and operator of Opera House Events, says celebration of life parties are gaining popularity due to the convenience of cremation.

“Because of the cost, most people are choosing cremation. They hold on to the remains and have a celebration of life at a time when it is convenient for all the family to get together. Sometimes it can be a week, three weeks, or even two months later,” he says.

This alternative is also favorable because of its approach to loss. Bob says they’re typically no different than a birthday or an anniversary. Complete with customized decor and catering, a celebration of life allows mourners to face bereavement from a different outlook.

“If a person who has lost someone has that little bit of personal time to grieve, when it comes time to do the celebration of life, they are in a far better frame of mind,” Bob explains. “It becomes more of a time when they really can reflect on the person and not on their own personal emotions.”

Care With Comfort

Chuck Lee fondly remembers the outstanding care his father-inlaw received from hospice while battling bone cancer.

“The caregivers were excellent and helped him with pain management,” Chuck recalls. “They brought love and compassion into the home. Although my father-inlaw succumbed to the disease, he received outstanding care during the end of his life. I said to myself, ‘I want to do what they do.’”

So Chuck switched careers and joined a hospice chapter in Pensacola as a marketing and outreach coordinator in 2001. Throughout the years, he worked his way up the organization, and three years ago, was named as chief executive officer of

Cornerstone Hospice.

When people think of hospice, they automatically associate it with death and dying. But that’s not what hospice is really about. Instead, the organization provides care and comfort while helping people focus on the life still left to live.

And that’s what makes Chuck’s job rewarding. The same goes for Cornerstone Hospice’s 650 employees and numerous volunteers.

“I love being part of an organization that focuses on our patients’ physical, emotional, and spiritual needs,” he says. “We see people in their most vulnerable moments and consider it a privilege that they allow us to take care of them in their homes. Their well-being and happiness is at the forefront of every decision I make.”