Burial, Cremation, or the Water Way

 

What the Undertaker Knows

 

There’s an area between dying and grieving that we don’t think about much, partially because it doesn’t last long, but also because we’re squeamish about dead bodies and what to do with them. If we pay funeral directors a lot of money to take care of all the arrangements, then we don’t even have to see the body. This is the problem. In our ongoing denial of death, we can pretend that they’ve just moved somewhere else.

 

One of the reasons we don’t make funeral decisions ahead of time, and where our loved one will rest for all eternity, is that we don’t want to give up hope when someone is dying.

 

Living Without the Why

            “Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, 

          if not always in the way we expect.” J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter

Each of us will die. We know this, even if we run from thinking about it. Death isn’t the problem. How we grieve when those we love die is.

Most of us are aware that some people die young, although we may not know the staggering numbers. More people die young than I can reconcile with my previous view of the world as an abundantly happy place to hang out.