I saw this on friend Bonnie's blog - the biodegradable urn
for cremated ashes, with a tree seed inside. "When planted, the tree seed is nourished by and absorbs the
nutrients from the ashes."
I like this idea.
For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be cremated
when I die. Maybe it was the funerals attended as a young girl. But mostly I
didn't want to take up 6 feet of good earth, what a waste of land. If indeed
your spirit leaves your body at death and goes wherever it is headed, why save
the empty shell as a shrine? I don't save egg shells or mayonnaise jars after I
get the good out. But anyway, the above urn is just one of the many things you
can do with the ashes.
Many years ago I made out my will with a local attorney. One
of the first lines in a standard will form is, "I want to be buried in a Christian like manner." That is
when I said, "But I don't want to be
buried." She changed the line to cremation and advised me to go to the
local funeral director and share my wishes with him, because as she said, the
will won't be read until you are already planted.
Next stop, local funeral director, where I asked all kinds
of questions about cremation etc., and was told that the body was transported
to the crematory in Atlanta .
There is a crematory closer, but it would involve crossing the state line into
Tennessee ,
and the body would have to be embalmed first to cross the state line. Anyway,
back at the crematory in Atlanta .
After the cremation, the ashes would come back to the local funeral home in a
cardboard box via UPS.
So those arrangements were made, but I never did decide what
to do with the ashes. Doesn't really matter, once again the good part is gone, I
don't save coffee grounds either. We have a friend whose ashes were scattered at
her favorite place, at a certain castle in central Florida , and a cousin whose ashes were
scattered in a nearby state park. I imagine neither of these acts are condoned
by the property owners, but no harm was done and the evidence is probably long
gone now, absorbed back into the earth.
This biodegradable urn is a nice idea, plant a tree, and at
first I thought it would be a good idea for me. But don't go out and buy a
special container, recycle an old McDonald's cup or something! And then I remembered my bad luck with
growing most anything, and figured the tree wouldn't even sprout, LOL.
So back to the question, what to do with the ashes? We have lots
of woods, mountains, anywhere would be fine, and of course there is always the final
FLUSH! To my kids, don't take it too
serious, have fun with it, just remember I am watching…
