Death Café is coming to East Cobb on Saturday, November 2nd from 3-5pm at the historic Campground Cemetery on Roswell Road, and you are invited to attend! What in the world is a Death Café, you ask? The first time I heard about a Death Café in Atlanta, I was dumbfounded yet intrigued at the same time. Why would anyone spend time talking about such a distasteful topic with strangers while eating cake and overlooking the historic Oakland Cemetery? I talked to my wife, Linda. Curiosity got the best of us, so we went. To our great surprise, the experience was utterly positive and life-affirming, and it helped us prepare for inevitable grief and loss. The conversation was though-provoking and the cake was great!
“Death Café” is a world-wide movement that began in Europe and spread to North America in 2012. There are now nearly 10,000 meetings held in over 65 countries. Mark LaRocca-Pitts, who inaugurated Death Café Atlanta, is about to hold his 58th monthly meeting in Atlanta, and he has graciously offered to inaugurate this first East Cobb venture.
A Death Café is designed to provide a safe and comfortable setting for people to talk about death while drinking tea and coffee and eating cake. The only objective is “to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.” There is no intention of leading participants to any particular belief, conclusion or course of action. Instead, a Death Café provides an open, respectful, and confidential space free of discrimination where people can express and explore their understanding of death. As Andy Webster, a hospice chaplain, once said, “the most alive people I’ve ever met are those who embrace their [inevitable] death. They love, laugh, and live more fully.” Death Café East Cobb is a “social franchise” of Death Café (www.deathcafe.com). Check it out!
The organizers are requesting those interested to register so they can plan accordingly. For reservations and/or free tickets, go to www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4399999. Contact, Bob Bonstein, at bobbonstein@bellsouth.net for more information. See you on November 2nd!
This article originally appeared in our October issue, on page 14. Click here to view our digital edition.
