One of the last pieces of life’s puzzle is a prepaid funeral arrangement. If we had any sense we would be shopping for ourselves but we were helping my parents choose between two nearby places that we chose from a list that came from a friend of my father’s. One was moderately priced and one was considerably cheaper.
My parents have chosen a green burial with a shroud and no embalmment, a “direct burial” in funeral home jargon, basically pick up, preparation and delivery to the cemetery, but one place was about twice the cost of the other. So we read a lot into the transaction in these short meetings.
Both salesmen were late. We were late for both appointments as well but the salesmen were later. I don’t hold that against them. One was slick and well spoken. One was a kid who my father said looked like he just washed his hands and sat down. The slicker one slipped when he said they would probably just wrap the bodies in a sheet unless we provided our own shrowd. And the kid didn’t do himself any favors when he got off on a logistical tangent about how they dig graves when you’re buried next to someone else. “They dig slowly with the back hoe and if they hit the top of a casket they move over a bit.” I’m sure we were all picturing a shovel going through whichever corpse went in the ground first.
I’d go with the kid but my dad will call the shots. After the meetings we headed down to to Nick’s where my mother, Peggi and I all ordered the “Italian Special.”
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Out of curiosity, if you don’t mind, are they going to have stones? Here the site of a dear High school friend who died in 2007. She had a “Green” burial in 2007, and perhaps this year, I will be able to visit her burial place. See her stone? I always think she would have laugh at it and roll it down the hill 🙂
Hmmm. This green burial idea sounds interesting but simultaneously it gives me pause. It’s in conflict with my childhood memories of (Irish) wakes and somber graveside ceremonies. Did you know there is a company or maybe just a person in Maine who makes knock-down pine coffins? They are shipped to the forward looking, boy scout emulating buyer as a flat pack. Store it in your closet they suggest until the need arises. Held together with a few pegs its perfect for the DIY burial.
I revolted from the notion of barbaric embalming and satin coffins in my 30’s and 40’s. As my sixties rolled around I have begun to reconsider. In my family the wake was often held at home with the open coffin sitting in a place of honor in the living room. There was something remarkable about falling asleep in the same house as a dead person.
Ceremony is something to be considered.
I like that very much. “Ceremony is something to be considered.”