Two Suffolk-Based Companies Ask Long Islanders to Consider Life Planning as 2014 Resolution

Jan. 2, 2014 - PRLog -- SHOREHAM, NY — While it may not be the first thing you think about when considering New Year’s resolutions, life planning is more important for 2014 than it has ever been, due to recent changes in estate rules and regulations. But while the legal ramifications may be crucial, what about the personal ones? With those in mind, Shoreham-based Good Mournings, which plans nontraditional memorial services, and “A Lifetime Legacy,” a family history preservation firm based in Commack, have partnered to help families navigate the sometimes difficult process of getting their final affairs in order.

“No one wants to think about death or dying,” says Pam Hoffman, co-founder of Good Mournings. “But the reality of the matter is that we all will pass. Determining how you want to be remembered is an important part of not only an individual’s life, but of their family and loved ones’ lives as well.”

Offering alternative services to traditional wakes and funerals, Good Mournings plans personalized life celebrations that provide mourners additional closure by creating more of an experience. Good Mournings typically plans such events at homes, vineyards, beaches, restaurants, and catering halls — or any place that may have been special to the individual that has passed. By taking the service outside the funeral home, Ms. Hoffman and her business partner, Donna Aliperti, are hoping to “change the way we say goodbye.”

While planning one such non-traditional memorial service, they encountered former court reporting agency owner Deborah Tomasetti Perham, a family and personal historian who started “A Lifetime Legacy,” which aims to connect generations by preserving memories.

“When a person dies without having recorded his or her personal and family stories, they essentially die twice,” says Ms. Tomasetti Perham. “First when they die physically and again when all the stories from their life are forgotten.”

“A Lifetime Legacy” is able to preserve family stories for future generations via written memoirs, narrated photo slideshows, video biographies, family recipe books, and personalized obituaries. After working together successfully on a recent life celebration, the two companies felt they had an extremely unique service to offer families by partnering with one another as referral sources.

“Combining our services seemed like a natural fit,” said Ms. Aliperti. “What we offer and what Deborah offers really do go hand-in-hand with one another. Deborah’s business may be more about what a person wants to leave behind and our business may be more about how someone wants to be remembered, but ultimately, it’s about creating the most personal, individualized memorial service for loved ones.”

While both companies admit that making a commitment to get such affairs in order may not seem like the most traditional New Year’s resolution, it’s still extremely vital. Recent studies have shown that young children who know about their families’ histories tend to do better when faced with challenges. Additionally, nostalgia has been proven to counteract loneliness, boredom, and anxiety.

“On cold days, studies have shown that people who reminisce feel warmer — literally,” said Ms. Tomasetti Perham. “It can also make people more tolerant of outsiders and generous to strangers. I think that’s just as meaningful, if not more so, than trying to lose those same five pounds every year!”

But ultimately, both Good Mournings and “A Lifetime Legacy” want people to know that it’s never too soon to begin planning a life celebration or recording memories for posterity.

“You don’t want something like that hanging over your head, and you certainly don’t want to burden your family with it at such an emotionally trying time,” says Ms. Aliperti. “By combining our services or referring each other, we are really just trying to help ease a difficult process by making it as seamless as possible for families.”

For more information about Good Mournings, please contact 1-888-540-8688 or visit www.goodmournings.net. For more information about “A Lifetime Legacy,” please contact 631-605-1799 or visit www.alifetimelegacy.com.

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About Good Mournings

Good Mournings (http://www.goodmournings.net/) founders Pam Hoffman and Donna Aliperti came from diverse backgrounds in business and healthcare. Both wives and mothers, they found they shared a passion for helping families through their darkest hours. They created Good Mournings to help families not only mourn a loss, but celebrate a life.

About “A Lifetime Legacy”

“A Lifetime Legacy” believes your legacy matters, and will help guide you through the process of passing your legacy on.  The company offers many different Legacy Matters packages in order to preserve life lessons, values and traditions; give voice to a family legacy; protect treasured family photos and recipes from being lost; and handle the methodical process of building and preserving a family legacy.