C’est tellement mystérieux, le pays des larmes…

– A. de Saint-Exupéry – Le Petit Prince –

Living in France, enjoying life to the full, you might not want to think about your final farewell or that of your loved ones. You might even prefer to avoid the subject, looking out at the beautiful French countryside. However, for each and every one of us there will inevitably be a moment of confrontation with the fact that nothing on this earth is infinite.

And when that happens, suddenly you have to take all kinds of decisions and deal with all sorts of formalities. In such a situation it can be quite difficult to keep an overview of all the necessary steps and possibilities, especially when you are living in a country where the language, habits and laws are very different from those you are used to.

It can be of great support to have somebody at your side who can help you prepare the funeral and take care of all the other necessary formalities.  Someone to help you organise the ceremony of farewell that can help you live with your loss, and that expresses your respect for the wishes of the one you have lost. Someone also who has had French and Dutch funeral training, who is familiar with the French funeral legislation, who speaks English and French and who can take care of all the paperwork and the organisation.

La Perle – the name I have chosen

A pearl is the symbol of modesty and purity, but it also brings to mind love, happiness and the shape of a teardrop. It grows in deep water and with its slightly otherworldly lustre, it forms a link between heaven and earth.

In ancient China, the oyster was the symbol of the mother’s womb and the pearl represented the embryo, the beginning of a new life.

A pearl is created when the oyster covers a sharp, painful object with mother of pearl. In such a way inner pain, too, can be transformed into beauty.