Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Ben Franklin said it


"In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes."

Today being April 15 we know taxes are certain. We bitch about this inevitable truth. Then there's death. We all know our number will eventually come a calling, but it's not exactly an easy topic to raise or discuss, especially with loved ones. I'm thankful to have had this dialogue with my parents. I consider myself lucky that both of my parents are still alive and quite active in their late seventies.

Long before discussing death with my parents I've always known when the question of burial or cremation has been posed, the answer is cremation all the way. My family is fully aware of my simple wish. To keep a portion of my remains in Colorado and scatter the rest of my remains over the place where I share the fondest of memories--a tiny cove in Laguna Beach.

I admit I've never been able to adequately articulate my reasons. My mother recently shared a poem she penned about her own wishes, which I couldn't have expressed any better.

This I am certain of.

Cremation

At two thousand degrees the End quickly nears.
In a room full of flames, the flesh flows like tears.

Liquid and smoke emerge from the sludge,
Where is this person? One simply can't judge.

Impurities of body no longer in tact,
A vanishing mass, an impossible fact.

Hours later, disin te gra tion complete,
Dust and ashes in piles so neat.

Half will remain at a well-chosen spot
With corpses as neighbors whose bodies are rot.

The remainder will scatter to Ediza on high,
The Eastern Sierras she has chosen to lie.


--Phyllis Bricker

2 comments:

  1. I'm with you and your mom, whom I would love to meet! In a way you and I and others who've faced serious health issues, are fortunate in having to have addressed the issue with family. I say, the old "bod" causes enough problems and scandal while alive, when it's finished, that's it. Our spirits and essence go on.
    Cheers!
    Diane J

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  2. Well put, Liz; thanks for sharing your mom's poem. I recently asked Deanna to have me cremated & to spread my ashes at the Palisade Glacier (which is located at 12,500 ft., 22 miles west of Big Pine, CA in the eastern Sierra). Like you, I can't really articulate my reasons for the request. I suppose my only thought is that I have been so profoundly affected by the beauty of that particular region and by the "stuff" with which the area is composed (i.e., the granite peaks and boulders, the glacial ice, the trees, etc.) that I would like my body to be a part of that area, that my physical remains are returned to the Earth in that locale. I came to that decision last July when I was up in that area to climb a route on Mt. Sill and saw a group spread the ashes of a loved one. I immediately realized that the Palisade Glacier is my favorite place in the world and there is nowhere else I would rather be "laid to rest." (By the way, I believe I recall the cove in Laguna to which you refer. It is unquestionably a wonderful and beautiful place!)

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