It's ironic that I was one of the first people to benefit from
Good To Go. My dad attended one of the early Good To
Go parties and filled out all of the information. The next
day I went over to his place. We put on 50's music. We
ordered pizza. And we went through all of the details. He
even wrote his own obituary. He didn't want me to go
through what I went through with my mom. The next year
he was hospitalized with pneumonia and died.
Before I visited my dad in his hospital room, I went
straight to the nurses’ desk and presented his end-of-life
paperwork. The doctors and nurses looked at me wide-
eyed. They were so grateful. They said, "No one ever
does this. It's always up to us to have this conversation."
In the Good To Go video I say, "It'll give you the peace
that you don't know you're going to need." I was
thinking of the survivors. I wasn't thinking it also gives
the dying the peace to let go. I witnessed firsthand that
Good To Go helped my dad die peacefully.
With each Good To Go printing, I add client suggestions,
so it's expanded to cover pretty much everything. For
example, at the onset, I had space to list only doctors. One
of my clients said, "You should include dentists because,
God forbid, if there's some kind of of tragedy, they may
have to identify you by your dental records.”
Pets are given attention in the Good To Go paperwork.
Who do you want to take your pet, and have you talked
to that person? What if they can't find the pet? What are
their hiding places? What are their allergies?
The Good To Go paperwork goes into the everyday
details that you're not going to put in a will. You're not
going to put your gmail password in a will. You might
write it down on a scrap of paper and put it somewhere
safe, but again, you’re making your loved ones have
to look for it. Good To Go covers everything that a will
wouldn't cover.
You learn so much about your friends and family at a Good
to Go Party. Even though the subject matter is serious, we
don't take ourselves seriously. Nobody leaves a party
feeling depressed or gloomy. I would say the overriding
feeling is euphoria because they're not dying. They're
alive. They're overwhelmed at the amount of information
that their loved ones would need. They know they have
taken a significant step toward freeing their friends and
family to grieve in a positive, healthy way.
AMY PICKARD made her living as a freelance
TV producer and broadcaster and has written for the Austin
American Statesman, London’s Daily Mail on Sunday, BUST
and REAL SIMPLE magazine. After her mom’s sudden death in
2012, she experienced a tectonic spiritual transformation and
discovered her cosmic calling by creating an unconventional
advance planning company called Good To Go!. Her mission
is to change the cultural narrative on how we view death
preparedness, dying and the aftermath…by having a party!
She recently drove across America giving Good To Go! pop up
parties and experiencing rock and roll epiphanies along the
way. She is currently working on a podcast called “Here, There
and Everywhere,” interviewing artists about grief, loss and the
cosmos. Amy is on a mission to spread the death preparedness
message to the mainstream through popular culture and she
envisions facilitating G2G! workshops for corporate retreats,
creating Virgin Nursing Homes with Richard Branson and getting
all of her favorite musicians Good To Go!
GOODTOGOPEACE.ORG
VOLUME II | 45
LAURA HUTCHENS