I’m a wife and mom to three, including my daughter Nora, who was born with Trisomy 18, a chromosomal disorder that we were told was “incompatible with life” ...although this is now an outdated and inaccurate prognosis. Giving birth to her inspired me to face my long-held fears about death and dying, as I became committed to helping her to have the best life for as long as she could. As the months and years went by, I learned to live with the likelihood of her death without living in fear. I leaned into the unknown, learned all I could, and discovered family-centered and environmentally friendly options like home funerals and green burial and in 2009, I trained to become a home funeral guide. Our "Norabird" passed peacefully at home in 2016 at age 15, surrounded by family, in the quiet of the night as we sang her songs and told her the story of her life. We lovingly tended her body and held a family-led funeral in our home where visitors decorated a simple unfinished wooden casket. The time at home was followed by a "green" burial in a wildflower meadow in a local cemetery, where her body naturally returned to the earth, giving life to new living things. Knowing what to expect, what to do, and how to do it allowed us to make choices that continue to bring us comfort. (For more about our family's experience of Nora's home funeral, click here.)