My father told me that he wanted to be cremated and his ashes scattered along the ridge of Tagaytay City overlooking Taal volcano. I had two small children when he died, couldn’t manage the long drive to Tagaytay and the best I could do was scatter his ashes on the hillsides of Antipolo. I knew he’d understand. He adored his grandchildren after all.
My grandmother — my father’s mother — told me that she wanted to be cremated too and her ashes scattered on the exact spot where my father’s ashes had been thrown. I did as she wished. It was drizzling that day and instead of the ashes scattering to the wind, they were washed away by the light rain.
Speedy doesn’t like the idea of spending needlessly on his wake and a grand funeral. He always says that when he goes, we shouldn’t even spend on cremation. Just wrap his body in a sheet and throw it into the river, he says. I told him I couldn’t do that. It’s illegal and if I get caught, Sam and Alex would lose both parents instead of one.
Now, there’s this woman whose husband instructed her that he must be buried with all his hard-earned money…
There was a man who had worked all of his life, had saved all of his money, and was a real miser when it came to his money.
Just before he died, he said to his wife, ‘When I die, I want you to take all my money and put it in the casket with me. I want to take my money to the afterlife with me.’
And so he got his wife to promise him with all of her heart that when he died, she would put all of the money in the casket with him.
Well, he died . . .
He was stretched out in the casket, his wife was sitting there in black, and her friend was sitting next to her. When they finished the ceremony, just before the undertakers got ready to close the casket, the wife said, ‘Wait, just a minute!’
She had a box with her, she came over with the box and put it in the casket.
Then the undertakers locked the casket down, and they rolled it away.
Her friend said, ‘I know you weren’t fool enough to put all that money in there in the casket with your husband.’
The loyal wife replied ‘Listen, I can’t go back on my word. I promised him that I was going to put that money in that casket with him.’
‘You mean to tell me you put that money in the casket with him?!?’
‘I sure did’ said the wife. ‘I got it all together, put it into my account and wrote him a cheque. If he can cash it, he can spend it.’
Now, that is respecting a loved’s one’s final wish.
Thanks to longtime reader Rosario for the fast-forwarded e-mail.
HAHAHA! Good for her. Smart woman.
In a way that’s what appeals to me so much about when death actually arrives. Which is that it’s pretty much the end of one’s burdens and problems, and the returning to become part of the earth again is oddly comforting. Life really isn’t what man thinks, does, or says it is.
That’s a thought for some who has lived a full life. But for others still looking forward to the rest of their lives, and for those who spent their lives running around not knowing where to or what for, I don’t think death is a welcome conclusion to life’s journey.
yep you’re right Sass. but it’s possible to have a last will and testament made in which there’d be specific instructions for absolutely no wake and straight to the fires of cremation, right? it’ll feel like taking a shower probably.
Yep, I have one just like that.
Hilarious! Good thinking.
Wouldn’t surprise me Ms. Connie if the widow was a lawyer, haha.
Come to think of it, it’s weird how we pinoys avoid the topic on how our loved ones will go about our funerals. Giving them specific instructions would save them a lot of headache anyway.
Yep, save those left behind from thinking that en grande wake and funeral is part of respect.
Hahaha nag Baileys ka na naman no?
Share ko lang…
My mom shares the same sentiments with that of Speedy. Parang “you’re gone na, and don’t prolong the sufferings of those you left behind” thing as far as my mom believes.
When she died four years ago, we had her cremated after an hour and had the rite of christian burial offered.
Simple, quick, no prolonged viewing, flowers or wailing relatives.
Some people find it weird kasi the next day it was business as usual for us. We even have to forgo the usual Chinese burial customs, kasi we converted na to Catholicism.
I guess mom wanted to save us the trouble of having to mind the comfort of those visiting, the food preparation and all the works known to Pinoy “Lamay”
And she was right.
Naku the Chinese have complex rituals involving death and burial, right? I remember seeing a truckload of hired mourners in Chinatown once. In Taiwan, there was a funeral procession with costumed figures representing the dead man’s concubines.
At hindi ako nag-Bailey’s ha. Ang init init!!!!
Haha! That’s so clever!
There was this ex-governor in our province who instructed his family not to ever put his body in a casket. My mom, who had to attend the wake, couldn’t get over this queasy feeling of looking at a dead person, just lying there on a sheet, in the open.
Alam mo, I think that’s common practice in some cultures.
smart woman! funny story.
My kind of woman!! LOL
BRAVO!
Cheers to the smartest woman.
HA HA HA HA HA…maybe the woman is a lawyer…so SMART & CLEVER. clap clap clap……
hahaha! very funny.. she was soooo smart! i love this story, tonight there’ll be a story-telling session before we snooze.. thanks..
HAHAHAHA! natawa talaga ako sa kuwento, pati sa sinabi ni Speedy.