I have explained to my husband that it's of no importance what's done with my body--give it to science, cremate it, whatever--but I would appreciate his keeping any funeral tackiness to a minimum. Of the monuments pictured on the linked site, perhaps only the winged lion would suit me. Or just skip the monument. In any case, if the word "Celebration" or any canned music is included in my exequies, I will haunt him to his own unlovely grave. Bagpipes would be appropriate.
Update: the NPH tells me he recently saw a site illustrating innovative funeral-home viewings, like laying the deceased out in a lawn chair or--and I know this will be as popular a theme here as on Dr. Boli's not-to-be-missed comment thread--on a motorcycle.
Searching for that link also yielded this one, which is pinky-swear not a spoof despite the employment of the word "awesome" in the title. It's the Martha-Stewartization of memorial services, and I guess it was only a matter of time before this sort of thing spilled over from what we see at weddings already. My favorite touch:
Also, you know the iconic half-buried Cadillacs? I'd like Airstreams. Something awesome.
It reminds me (of a tasteless version) of the Victorian and Georgian custom of giving funeral rings and gloves and other things to friends and other mourners. Perhaps for a delayed memorial service some things might be appropriate, but for a funeral, especially open casket? No, nope, no.
ReplyDeleteLittleRed1
Rocketship?
ReplyDelete;-)
I just want to be burned and scattered among the mountains I love.
ReplyDeleteI should think the best sort of grave monument should permit or better still, encourage the sort of activity one would like people to do when thinking of you. By that standard, perhaps I should design one for myself that includes a place to read.
ReplyDeleteI did kind of like the bench. Maybe a memorial hammock? More seriously, an endowed room in a nice library.
ReplyDeleteI dunno, I think the hammock sounds grand!
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