Do you want to be buried or cremated?

[AuntieMe3]

I want to be cremated and my ashes made into fireworks. I read an article once about a company that did this, then take your loved ones out on a boat and shoots off the fireworks. Not even sure if it's still a thing or not but it sounds nice.

Hubby also wants to be cremated but I don't think he cares about what happens to his ashes.

Almost every one in our families who have passed have been cremated.

 

[Befferk]

Wow 80%...Do you think cremation is more popular due to costs associated with burial plots, caskets, etc?
Or more people choose cremation simply as a personal preference?

DH and I will be cremated.

It's honestly a mixture of both. Some are very honest about it being about the money. Others are choosing it because it's become much more "accepted" and they don't like the idea of burial.

For those of you who don't like the idea of "being burned", look to see if alkaline hydrolysis is legal and offered in your state. It is, for lack of a better/ simple explanation, "water cremation". No flame, but you end up with the same result. It's not legal in our state yet but we're working on getting it made legal (nothing really "illegal" about it in a bad way, it's just a matter of changing the legal definition of cremation on the state law books).

 

[trip]

Cremated and placed in a columbarium in a military cemetery with my DH(when we both pass) It saves space in the cemetery.

 

[xjillianpaige]

undecided leaning toward cremation.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I have no wishes on this. I have told my daughters' to do what they want. I feel funerals and graves, urns, etc are for the living not for the person who died.

My mother said the same and my siblings and I went with cremation due to finances. She wanted us to do the cheapest option and use the little bit of savings she had. She did request not to spread them if we went that route, so I have them here in an urn she would have loved. It looks like books, so I placed it on my biggest shelf between her favorite books. I feel like we will get to a point where we will have to spread them, though. I mean what happens to them when I die? Feels weird to leave them to my kid.
Morbid, I know.

 

[ronandannette]

Interesting topic. I work at a funeral home & crematory. And to be honest? I still don't know what I want for sure, lol. We serve about 800 families a year, and 80% or more are cremation.

I interned to be a mortician and that's actually what totally sealed my decision. I'd say most people have a visceral reaction to one choice or the other and go with the one that disturbs them less.

 

[AlohaNow]

I can't stand even the thought of being cold, so I'll choose cremation. DH, a SCUBA divemaster, will be made into a reef ball.

 

[HiStitch626]

I am hopeful that after any parts that can donated, the remains can go to the local medical school. Despite advances in computer-based learning, medical students still need to work on cadavers. However, there are some limits to that having to do with age and cause of death. Otherwise, I would prefer to be cremated.

 

[bcla]

Nearly all the members of my family have been cremated and buried. The exceptions would be that my grandfather's ashes were stored at a columbarium (storage place for cremated remains) but later his ashes were buried closer to where my grandmother lived near us. Then when my grandmother died, her remains were cremated and buried next to his. Our family replaced the single headstone with a dual-named headstone. The cemetery where their ashes are buried has different areas. Their area is all flat headstones, but there are other areas with above-ground headstones. There's also a few sections that are identified as "non-endowment". I understand that means they're reliant on upkeep provided by descendants or governments to take care of areas where the families haven't paid into an endowment fund. Some of those areas were actually quite nice, but another area was covered with lots of wood chips and not grass.

 

[bcla]

I am hopeful that after any parts that can donated, the remains can go to the local medical school. Despite advances in computer-based learning, medical students still need to work on cadavers. However, there are some limits to that having to do with age and cause of death. Otherwise, I would prefer to be cremated.

I'd be careful with that. Once I was at an event at the ballpark in San Francisco for various science exhibitors. It was a free educational event for children. There were a lot of exhibitors including the USGS and many local companies - especially biotech. However, the busiest was the UCSF Medical School area that was right on the field. The really interesting thing they had was a real human brain from someone who had donated his body to the medical school. I'm not sure that the donor had it in mind that kids would be putting gloves on and poking at the brain. My kid poked a little too hard and left a dent. Medical students were manning the booth, and when I asked about what they would do, I was told at the end of the day everything would eventually be incinerated.

 

[ThisIsJason]

Where is 'Other'? I am going to a body farm.

 

[ChrisFL]

I don't see the "shot into space" option

edit: Whatever it is, I'd want something silly to be on my tombstone/whatever.....something like "His final words were: Well, that sucks"

 

[DebbieB]

My parents are in a mausoleum, I’d like to be with them. The only way that could happen is cremation.

My cousin died a couple years ago, he was cremated and put with his parents, I actually watched his box being placed in the crypt in front of his mom’s casket.

 

[jbcheerchick93]

I want to be cremated so that I know I'm really dead and not buried alive accidentally. I know its not likely to happen but I read a piece about victorian graves that had bells with a string tied to the deceased in case they were buried alive and it has freaked me out ever since. But I do want my ashes to be buried so I can be visited!

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

I want to be cremated and my ashes made into fireworks. I read an article once about a company that did this, then take your loved ones out on a boat and shoots off the fireworks. Not even sure if it's still a thing or not but it sounds nice.

Hubby also wants to be cremated but I don't think he cares about what happens to his ashes.

Almost every one in our families who have passed have been cremated.

My family who has passed away all have their ashes scattered in the San Francisco Bay, under the Golden Gate. You’ve given me the idea to do it bigger as fireworks

In all seriousness, fireworks sounds kind of cool.

 

[bcla]

My family who has passed away all have their ashes scattered in the San Francisco Bay, under the Golden Gate. You’ve given me the idea to do it bigger as fireworks

In all seriousness, fireworks sounds kind of cool.

Strangely enough - under the Golden Gate wouldn't be legal. Not far away enough, and the water isn't deep enough. It has to be at least 3 miles from shore and the water has to be at least 600 ft deep. Not sure who would allow it. It might require hiring a charter boat.

https://www.epa.gov/ocean-dumping/burial-sea
No permit is needed, but it's supposed to be reported within 30 days.

Yosemite is free to scatter ashes, but requires a permit. It would have to be well away from any roads or trails.

https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/upload/ashes.pdf

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I always assumed I’d be buried, but I wasn’t sure where. A few years ago I decided cremation would be a better solution. I don’t like the thought of being in a box underground, but nor do I want to sit in an urn on someone’s shelf. To my knowledge (having seen the inside of a crematory for pets, anyway), there is no “fire” that a corpse go into, it’s more of an “oven” - body slides right in and heats up under high heat until it turns to ash. (And because others have mentioned this type of thing, and it is something we think about, hopefully we’re really dead at that point but I’m thinking that will certainly be the case for the vast majority of us living in first world countries!)

I have an idea where I’d like my ashes to be scattered (one of the most peaceful places I know and love by the ocean) but not sure about the legalities of that. Will have to look into it more, or family will, they know my wishes. That seems like a nice ending to me. DH wants a burial at sea, and my brother has requested a Viking’s funeral - I think that’s where they put you on a boat, light it on fire and set it adrift, or something like that. . I know we have the burials at sea where we live (though I think I’d want him cremated first!); not sure about the Viking ones, lol.

Letting your wishes be known is really important, I think - even if it’s just that you “don’t care” one way or the other. We had a situation in my family with a sudden death and we didn’t know what the wishes were. It took several weeks to get into the safe deposit box which had the information we needed. Thankfully we made the right/desired decision. It took some finagling, though, because the family plot in a very old cemetery was already over-full, and the cemetery itself was full. Cremation allowed us to (with special permission) get the ashes into a little corner of the family plot rather than all alone in a different cemetery. When we found out that was the preference, it was a relief. (And I don’t think the deceased realized anything about the family plot situation, we only discovered it when we we’re forced to look into it.)

 

[amcnj]

Most of my family were buried, along with a couple cremations. For decades I held the cremation and ashes into the ocean idea. Then some years back I read about green burials. No embalming fluids, no vaults or liners, no energy used to perform a cremation, no carbon release, just the “recycling” of the body., Unfortunately they are still not common around here, and there are few such options, and I am not getting any younger!

 

[MICKIMINI]

Both cremated and bury the urns. There is a large family plot at the top of a mountain at a cemetery in VT - with a view! It is adjacent to Norwich University where the cadets run up and down the mountain all the time so it is unlikely it will ever grow over and be forgotten.

We already paid for internment at the town office and picked out our location. My DH reminded them "we are paying in advance" and we all had a good laugh!

 

[kdonnel]

Cremated or other

If I die poor donate my body to science.

If I die rich cremate me and have a fear factor style game show to give away my fortune. To move forward contestants would need to drink tea made from my ashes. Or instead of the cinnamon challenge they could have the kdonnel ash challenge. And so on.