I decided that, when I kick off, I will be cremated. Considering the life I have lived, it might be a 'preview of coming attractions'.
I already bought two cremation urns, one of each of my daughters. Since I will not be around to enjoy them, I am using them for planters. They can 'plant' me in them later.
The lids are threaded, so they can be removed at any time, but are not likely to come off accidentally. The kids might decide to dump the ash somewhere and just keep the "flower pots". I may add a few small items to each urn as a sort of 'time capsule'.
I shopped around online at a few funeral homes. All of them had urns for anywhere above $400, each, so I bought these at Amazon. The estimate is that each pound of body weight will reduce to a cubic inch of ash. The "Large" size urns have about 200 cubic inches of volume, so I got two, at just under $365 for the pair.
The urns came with a plastic bag for the ash and a black cloth bag to cover the urn. Ash remains ("cremains") are too salty and have a bad
ph factor, so house plants do not do well in ash. I left the plastic bags that came with the urns inside them. I bought some potting soil, put a trash bag inside both urns and mostly filled the urns with that. Then I put small plant in near the top of the urns. One is a Begonia, the other is a Jubilee Ivy. Someone will have to take all of that out, and take the urns to the funeral home when the need arises.
The main purpose of a funeral is to dispose of the body. Funerals tend to have a few similar characteristics:
they come at inopportune times;
they are ridiculously expensive;
they often involve out-of-town travel. (My daughters live in another state, as does my younger brother.)
The package that I am looking to purchase is called "direct cremation". It does not include any viewing or visitation. Since there will not be a burial, there will be no grave-side service. If the family wants, they can hold a memorial service where they are and at any time that is convenient for them. Doing all of this in advance will save them from some extra grief, at a time when they don't need it. All together (including the urns that I already bought), the total cost will be about two grand.
I have term life insurance (ten grand). The company says that they will drop me when I turn 80 (just under nine years from now). Otherwise, I can get 'permanent' life insurance now at twice the premium for the same coverage. (Seriously?) If I drop them now, and still live to be 80, I can save over five grand.
