Bury me deep (or send me to Spain)

Part of my goal this month of spiritual discovery is to research the eternal.  By which I mean, estate planning basically.  My husband and I still need to write wills, I also need to create a living will.  And, we need to figure out what we’re doing with our bodies once we’re no longer.  Not only do we need to make decisions about this, but we need to put it in writing and have a notary stamp it.  Why now?  We’re relatively healthy, mid-aged folk.  Best to do it while we’re healthy and competent.  Of course, my father’s girlfriend’s sudden death last month brought all of this planning to mind because I knew of her will and how contested it would be with her kids, I also wondered what she really wished for her end of life.  Does that sound strange?  I know people who say, “I just don’t want to end up in a nursing home,” but do they have it in writing?  Do they have a say when it comes time?  These are the questions that nag.

I’m not a great planner, but I have at least started a stupid list: songs for my funeral.  It’s on my desktop, husband.  I know my husband wants The Replacements to re-band and play his funeral, but we’ll see if they’re still alive by then.  Yesterday, I took a look at a web page about green funerals.  This is something that has interested me since I learned about it on “Six Feet Under.”  It’s basically burial in a pine box.  I’d like a tree on top of me.  But, it’s hard to find cemeteries that do green burials (by which I mean no embalming and few chemicals in the casket or burial process).  The cemeteries and funeral homes have to be certified and, of course, there have been abuses in the industry (funeral homes that claim to be “green” but aren’t).  I don’t know why, but not fulfilling a family’s wishes after a loved-one’s death seems like the ultimate betrayal to me.  I don’t want that to happen to my family, hence the planning.

Where some of me may rest eternally: Parc Guell, Barcelona, Spain (photo courtesy of Loving Barcelona blog on WordPress)

The obvious solution is cremation, but it’s just not as satisfying to me as burial with a tree on top.  Sure it’s carbon-emitting, but from what I’ve read, not as bad as embalming or burying a polyurethane coffin.  If that’s the way I have to go because the pine box/tree option is too difficult to realize, then I’ll at least plan a trip of a lifetime for my family and my ashes.  Scatter them on many continents in scenic overlooks because I’ve always wanted to see Nova Scotia, the Pacific Northwest, a summit in Nepal, the village in Lithuania from which my grandfather emigrated, the Medici Palace in Florence, Parc Guell in Barcelona, a fjord in Norway, and a rocky beach off of Acadia National Park.

Side note: Thank you to many friends who have been reading the blog and have offered me books to read on spiritual questing.  Most of this has happened on Facebook.  If anyone is interested in the list, I’ll compile it and post.

Here’s an interesting article from Newsweek on green burial:

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/26/green-burial-options-increase.html