Danna D. Schmidt

Master Life-Cycle Celebrant®  
Ordained Wedding Officiant  
Funerals/Memorials Specialist  
Certified Grief Educator/Tender  
ADEC-Certified Thanatologist®  

For the Love of Summer

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  Midday in the Puget Sound. The sun has spread out a grey blanket to sit upon a spell – her momentary respite perhaps before her virtual global light show with sunset and sunrise at Stonehenge. We celebrate this annual rite, welcoming the arrival of summer and the longest day here in the Northern Hemisphere… Continue Reading

Ritual that Writs You Well

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I’m often asked by clients and colleagues alike where and how I conceive of ritual ideas for my various ceremonies. My answer is unwavering. Everywhere! My celebrant antenna is always up in my hunt for unique ritual ideas. And my approach borrows from Mary Oliver’s “Sometimes” poem in which she confides the following great secret… Continue Reading

Coming to Terms

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On this day three years ago, I sat in a corner of my father’s hospital room by the window, doing all I could to greatly reduce my own human footprint within his dying space. I carried an awareness on that autumn day, which would prove to be his last, that this act of emptying the… Continue Reading

Funerals, Family Feuds & Other Exciting F Words (Part 2)

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This is the second in a two-part post about some of the F Words embedded in difficult family dynamics that can sometimes arise in my work as a funeral celebrant. To read the first post, click here.  ************ FEAR For kicks, I anagrammed the word “Funeral” and all kinds of interesting words emerged (more on that later), not the least of which… Continue Reading

Funerals, Family Feuds & Other Exciting F Words (Part 1)

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Death at a Funeral (2010).   Lean in a tad too close to any funeral director and they’re sure to either regale or terrify you with tales of family dramas in the funeral parlor. Heck, if you’ve watched Death at a Funeral – either the UK or American version – you’re already an armchair expert… Continue Reading

Legacies of Love

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The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.” Muriel Rukeyser, from “The Speed of Darkness” When my son, now on the edge of 22, graduated from high school four years ago, I wanted to gift him a different set of life luggage. I wanted it to be something he might carry throughout this life… Continue Reading

Death is a Verb

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  You’ve long since heard the public service announcement: You’re going to die and so am I. And if you’re like most people, you’d rather put it off and not think about it, as in, at all, ever. I get it…it’s a buzzkill. And yet when we’re confronted with OPD (other people’s death), it can often feel… Continue Reading

Say it RITE…the Ceremonious Way!

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