https://m.sfgate.com/lifestyle/article/The-funeral-as-we-know-it-is-becoming-a-relic-13767619.php

Death and dying. The culture I live within is becoming more open about it. In the grand scheme of things, this is a positive shift.

I kind of like the annual death-day idea. I do this for my dogs already. It helps me cope to actually do something to mark another year they have been absent from my life. They were so deeply part of it while alive and they deserve to be remembered and missed. Even when the pain and sadness of their loss has subsidied.

For several years it was a weekly ritual in remembrance of Leia. Her death hit me harder than anything I’ve experienced past or since. I feel guilty, sometimes, that it isn’t a weekly thing I do anymore.