The idea of the big send-off while someone is still there with you is nice, but then the killing yourself by walking out into the snow doesn't sound as nice. I very much understand wanting to dictate a bit of your own ending but that seems very scary!

I don't know what the answer is for paying caregivers of parents, but I do know that when the 70 million Boomers start to need around-the-clock care--which is the point a lot of elderly people get to--nobody is going to know how to deal with that. Caregivers and care homes are already stretched with the Silent Generation members still alive--and that generation only numbers 20 million or so!