Planning a memorial service
Feb. 24th, 2006 06:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_fantastic_ms_foxGrandmother's apartment. Same relatives as yesterday less one cousin. Aunts and uncles who've finally got some sleep. Presbetyrean minister. Consensus decision-making. What hymns do we sign? What prayers do we say? Who says them? Tea. Uneaten cookies. You want ot talk and everybody's looking at you but you can't choke out the words. Moving empty cardboard boxes up from the van.
I feel a little alienated. I like my family's faith: it's beautfiul and it does good things; but I don't believe. I didn't appreciate this before.
Then to the funeral home. Muzak. Third-order Knights of Columbus crest on the wall signed by the Grand Knight and the Dungeon Master, or something. No one met us, so my uncle and mom sat while I wandered around and into a roomful of caskets.
- Cardboard box with zap-strap ties (cremation only): $125
- Unpainted Pine Box (cremation only): (no price tag)
- Squarish plywood box, with plastic lining (cremation only): $495
This, combined small baskets of flowers at $150 each makes me think that architecture may be the wrong way to make ends meet. Maybe I should try to open up new markets for the post-mortem industry. Think about it: why wait until you're dead to have a funeral? Besides, it saves on cremation and burial costs.
"Funerals: not just for the dead anymore."
Actually... that might work.
Consider:
1. At present, mourners need not go from chapel to graveyard: if you go the cremation route, there's often a delay between funeral and internment.
2. We often regret not saying the things that need to be said until our circlees have died.
3. The executors who plan funerals often worry that they are bunging up the wishes of their loved ones. So they stress and spend scads on masonic flower arrangements and signature books with smiling Jesi on them.
4. Terminally ill people often plan their own funerals.
5. Physician assisted suicide will probably be legalized as boomer seniors gain more political voice.
6. It's something to do.
I feel a little alienated. I like my family's faith: it's beautfiul and it does good things; but I don't believe. I didn't appreciate this before.
Then to the funeral home. Muzak. Third-order Knights of Columbus crest on the wall signed by the Grand Knight and the Dungeon Master, or something. No one met us, so my uncle and mom sat while I wandered around and into a roomful of caskets.
- Cardboard box with zap-strap ties (cremation only): $125
- Unpainted Pine Box (cremation only): (no price tag)
- Squarish plywood box, with plastic lining (cremation only): $495
This, combined small baskets of flowers at $150 each makes me think that architecture may be the wrong way to make ends meet. Maybe I should try to open up new markets for the post-mortem industry. Think about it: why wait until you're dead to have a funeral? Besides, it saves on cremation and burial costs.
"Funerals: not just for the dead anymore."
Actually... that might work.
Consider:
1. At present, mourners need not go from chapel to graveyard: if you go the cremation route, there's often a delay between funeral and internment.
2. We often regret not saying the things that need to be said until our circlees have died.
3. The executors who plan funerals often worry that they are bunging up the wishes of their loved ones. So they stress and spend scads on masonic flower arrangements and signature books with smiling Jesi on them.
4. Terminally ill people often plan their own funerals.
5. Physician assisted suicide will probably be legalized as boomer seniors gain more political voice.
6. It's something to do.
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no subject
Date: 2006-02-25 04:11 am (UTC)I love you. I love you.
no subject
Date: 2006-02-25 05:38 pm (UTC)I keep picturing you in a pseudo-Six Feet Under setting. Take care.