Cremation and A Great Sendoff
During the past few years, it seems to me that there have been a growing number of movies and television shows that embrace some aspect of funeral service. I do not know if it is just my wishful thinking, but not it also seems that more of these programs and movies include full service funerals concluding with burials. One such move I recently enjoyed and appreciated from a funeral perspective is Big Fish, a story about the strained relationship between a father and his son. The son after no contact with his father for three years returns home because of the father’s looming death. Everything the son knows about his father’s life he considers “tall tales” so now facing his loss he seeks factual information before it is too late. As the plot unfolds the son realizes that the tall tales are actually based on facts or actual events in his father’s life, and that many of the people in his father’s tales were indeed real. As the movie climaxes the son sits at his father’s bedside and hears the man’s last request: for his son to tell him how his life ends. The son does not know what to say so the takes parts from all of the stories his father has told him and uses them to create the tall tale of his father’s end. The son’s tall tale of his father’s death was a beautiful fictional sendoff, but beyond that it involves the actual funeral service of the father and the conclusion of the movie epitomizes a personalized funeral that fulfills the man’s request to the white country -church cemetery where the grounds are filled with people. The hearse stands parked next to the church; the casket is covered with flowers and it rests over the open grave which is surrounded by green grass and floral tributes. As the scene continues a growing number of people arrive-the people in those tall tales -because the man who died impacted their lives. They all stand reverently around the grave as the minister presides. Following the committal service these people gather in small groups and reminisce about the past, sharing stories about this man whom they loved and who touched their lives in some significant way. They have come to honor him this day. I do not know about you but his is the kind of “sendoff” I want for myself. Just like the man in Big Fish, I hope that I have positively affected many people during my lifetime and that they will have lots to talk and laugh about after my “sendoff”. For me this movie demonstrates the value of visitations and funerals-not so much for the person who dies but for all the friends and family members impacted by that person and who loved him or her. Visitations and funerals are opportunities to celebrate in community a life lived. They provide opportunities for the living to outwardly express feelings and emotions. Funerals celebrate a life lived and bring healing to the living.
If you or a family member have any further questions or concerns with respect to cremation, cremation services, cremation costs or a direct cremation please feel free to contact Cremation Options toll free 24 hours daily at 1-877-989-9090.