Funeral plans

So there has been a couple deaths in my life this past week. One was my Wife’s cousin, and the other one was a co-worker. Both died too young because of cancer. Because of the cancer, both planned what they wanted for a funeral.

My Wife’s cousin had every little detail planned. She wanted to have one final beer with everybody, so that’s what she got. There was a keg in the front of the church and they passed around cups and pitchers, and we all drank together, even the pastor had a sip. It was different, but was pretty cool.

My co-worker didn’t want anything. He was single, didn’t have much of a family, and wasn’t religious. He didn’t want any kind of ceremony, so that’s what he got.

It was nice to see both of these families following the wishes of their deceased family member. I’ve heard stories of families not doing what their deceased family members wanted because nobody would ever really know. In the grand scheme of things, it probably really doesn’t matter, but I think it’s a nice tribute to do what your deceased family member wanted.

I’ve been thinking about what I want after I die ever since reading Mary Roach’s great book Stiff. I’ve came to the conclusion that I don’t really care. In a perfect world I would like to just be dumped in the woods so my body can be eaten by critters and the molecules that make up my body would return to the universe where they came from. I’m sure there are laws against that though. I guess I prefer cremation over embalming just for the simple fact that I would take up less space, but I don’t really have a preference. I’m going to leave it to my family to decide that. I’m not religious, so I really don’t care about a funeral. The way I see it, the funeral is for the family, and they can do whatever they want. As of right now, the only wish I really have is that I don’t want any religious symbols or words on my headstone, since that’s going to be around a lot longer than I ever was.