Rites of Passage

[Griselda]

I guess the first priority with the new kind of funerals is to stay away from Keith Richards :P

I honestly haven't been to many funerals. Mostly, that's because of my age, but also because my (small) family is scattered across the country, and I've generally been encouraged not to come when a relative dies. I expect that will be different when my mom's mom goes, because my mom depends so heavily upon her still, but that's how it's been so far.

So, the only funeral that I can remember going to was for my father in law's mother's second husband, or something like that. That was more of the traditional model that you mentioned above, but it struck me as very odd, because the minister of the church had this very casual style of delivery that seemed out of place when everything else was so formal.

But, I do think that things are changing. I personally couldn't imagine wanting to be filled with chemicals and surrounded by concrete and then even more lawn chemicals. There's no "dust to dust" there. Yuk.

I heard an interview on NPR recently about eco-cemeteries. They sound really nice and peaceful in a way that modern cemeteries just aren't.

I can also see that, realistically, cremation may be the only practical solution with our current level of population.