“Oh, Shit! I Might Die.”

My name is Mike Murphy. Faced with mortality, I had four weeks to plan my funeral. This is the story of what I went through. I hope my experience saves you time, money, and needless grief when planning a funeral for yourself or a loved one.

Yeah, we’re all going to die. But it had never been this real before.

My cardiologist said I needed a rare heart procedure to stay alive. The downside is the surgery that was supposed to save my life could potentially end it. I thought “WTF? I’m too young for this. I can’t leave my wife and my young daughter with less than a decade of memories.”

As reality set in, one thing was clear, I didn’t want my funeral to be the last memory I would leave to my family and friends.

When it came to funerals, I knew what was up. I’d already been forced to do this twice with no roadmap. When my parents had passed suddenly, I had no clue about what they would have wanted. I was ill-equipped to summarize their life in words and pictures. I learned that no matter how well they are done, funerals suck. And a “Celebration Of Life” never lives up to its name.

Oh, and did I mention that these funerals are not only depressing but crazy expensive? Through every step of the planning process, the cogs of the funeral industry churned to monetize our grief. A sales rep for a “leading funeral planning” company that claims to give you an “advantage” even showed up at our house unannounced on a Saturday and harassed my wife.

That Was The Last Straw

Screw this! there’s got to be a better way. I’m not doing business with these crooked vultures.

I decided to do something different. If I am going to pass, then I want to be remembered on my terms. I’ve lived this pretty epic life and if I had to go, then I wanted to leave people smiling.

I thought You Only Die Once, so let’s have a party. I pivoted from planning my funeral to planning my afterlife party, a YODO Party. Much to my surprise what started as depressing ended up being liberating, fun, and way cheaper than going through the traditional funeral planning process.

Furnerals suck. Let’s have a party!

  • My YODO Party

    No funeral home, burial plot, or urn for my ashes. I love mustard so put me in those little Grey Poupon jars the fancy hotels give out.

    We’ll have it a place where lots of good times were had. My family won’t have to worry about the event because the program, photos, videos, and music soundtrack has already been taken care of by me. Guests will be asked to wear something Yellow and share age-appropriate stories. At the front, will be a life-size standee of me next to a table stacked with my mustard jars.

  • Party Favors

    My afterlife party comes to a close with Lynyrd Skynyrd’s anthem, “Free Bird” inspired by the closing scene from Elizabethtown. As the song plays, guests will walk up, pay their respects to the cardboard me, pose for selfies, and take a jar of me home with them.

    But that’s not all… Just like any great party, guests will leave with a gift bag. They’ll get a set of party favors adorned with my face to leave them smiling. Coasters that say, “Have A Drink On Me.” Luggage tags that say, “Wish I Was Here.” Car air fresheners that, “What’s That Smell?”

Everyone deserves to be remembered.

  • Introducing... The Afterlife Profile

    Obituaries suck too. They are temporary, don’t adequately capture the story of your life, and are another painful chore for your family to complete in their time of grief.

    It was crushing to think my daughter would forget about me. Social media profiles are no help. They become a sad wasteland after someone dies.

    Much to my surprise, there were no good options to be remembered after I was gone. So, I created an Afterlife Profile to share a lifetime of memories. The events, stories, photos, videos, and music are all there in one place for my loved ones to revisit any time they want.

That’s My YODO Story

So, there you have it. As you might have guessed, the surgery was a success. I got a second lease on life.

On top of that, I gained an unexpected feeling of liberation and peace of mind knowing my arrangements are in place for when I do eventually pass. My family will not have to deal with the needless pressure from the funeral industry to make quick decisions in their time of grief. It’s all taken care of.

It is now my mission in life to help others feel this same sense of relief. Whether you want a traditional funeral or an afterlife party, like me, it doesn’t have to be that expensive and you don’t have to be victimized by the funeral industry.

Everyone has a story, and they deserve to be remembered on their terms regardless of how much money they have accumulated in life.

'Our earthly bodies will surely fall. But the love we share outlives us all.'

My Morning Jacket, “Only Memories Remain”