Jamal Tahirkheli: You’re Never Too Young to Plan Ahead
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You’re Never Too Young to Plan Ahead
By Jamal Tahirkheli
Opinon Column
I’m about to turn 39, which still feels young to me. At this stage of life, most of us are focused on our career, raising children, making memories, and planning for the future. We think about what’s next in this life. We don’t often think about what happens when we’re no longer here.
But working as the Marketing Director and Family Service Assistant at Holly Hill Memorial Park in Thomasville, NC has changed the way I look at that.
Every day, successful people, people with spouses and children, and middle-aged adults with dreams still to chase pass away unexpectedly with no plans in place.Their families are left heartbroken and overwhelmed, trying to make major decisions in the middle of deep grief.
You do not have to look far to see how real this is. We see it every day around us. Just glance through your local obituaries. They tell a story most people do not want to face: Loss is not reserved for the elderly. It happens to young parents, husbands, wives, friends, and neighbors. It happens before anyone feels ready.
That is why pre-planning matters.
To me, pre-planning is not about being pessimistic. It is about being thoughtful. It is about making sure your family is not left guessing during one of the worst moments of their lives. It is about giving the people you love clarity, direction, and peace instead of pressure and uncertainty.
It is also about making sure you are laid to rest in a place that will always be cared for.
That matters more than people realize.
A cemetery should be a peaceful, respectful place your family feels comfortable returning to again and again. It should be a place with well-kept grounds, a place where concerns can be brought to the attention of staff and handled with care, and a place where your loved ones know you are being honored properly. Families should not have to wonder whether the place where they come to remember you will be maintained the way it should be.
Because they will come back.
They will visit on birthdays. On anniversaries. On holidays. On Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. On Christmas. On random afternoons when life feels heavy and they just need a quiet place to sit and think. Children especially need that kind of place. They need somewhere real to remember, reflect, and stay connected to the people who shaped them.
And one day, those children may bring their own children there.
That is where memorialization also becomes so important.
A memorial is more than a marker. It is a life story. It should reflect the person behind the name. It should say something meaningful about how that person lived, what they loved, and the legacy they left behind. The best memorials are the ones that spark stories. They make people laugh, cry, and leave with a smile because they can still feel the personality, love, and memory of the person being honored.
That is a gift to a family.
For younger people especially, it is easy to think there will always be more time. More time to make plans. More time to talk about what you want. More time to get around to it later. But life does not always give us later.
Pre-planning is not about age. It is about love, responsibility, and foresight. It is about making the most difficult day of your loved one’s life a little easier. And it is about making sure your story is remembered in a place worthy of the life you lived.
We plan for weddings, vacations, retirement, and our children’s futures. Planning ahead for cemetery and memorial decisions should be part of the same thoughtful conversations we have about our family’s future
Because in the end, the people who love you deserve more than memories alone. They deserve a place to return to and keep those memories alive.
