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Originally Posted by cmac2012
This'll really cement my reputation but I think we lost something when we started paying other people to bury our family members. A lot of people have real trouble just coming up with the $5 to $10 thousand.
When my dad died in 2000, my mom and I went to the funeral home to get everything arranged. He had bought in on some kind of plan so these were the guys we were bound to go with.
The front man was very smooth, a decent guy, but when they introduced us to the mortician, whoa man, she was a scary looking woman. I'm sure many, most morticians are fine people but this lady gave me the willies. Was way creepier looking than any woman on the Adam's family.
I've read about guys who built their father's coffin out of simple wood, and dug the hole themselves, with friends (would be hard to arrange the legality of that I'll bet). I heard one guy on NPR describing doing something like that and he said it really helped with the grieving process.
I guess most people are too freaked out about the thought of worms eating their body -- would rather be pickled and put in a concrete lined hole. I read one guy's take on that once: "The earth has sustained me these many years. I owe the earth one body." I want to be eaten by critters after I'm gone. Might find a touch of immortality behind that.
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I agree, dividing labor when it comes to death is alienating. It would be very therapeutic for me to cut the wood, hammer the nails, and dig the hole for a friend. Something about moving my body in the interests of grief would be helpful.
I think if I managed a Home Depot I'd try a section with coffin building supplies and see what happened.
There's a nun somewhere who designs coffins that can be used as a piece of furniture when you're alive and converted to a coffin upon death. I like that idea. Being buried in a box that was once my bookshelf would seem to be a fitting end.
This isn't the one I had in mind, but the same idea:
http://www.casketfurniture.com/casket_furniture.php
Some years ago I saw a very cool solid copper casket at an estate sale. I don't think it ever had been used. It was in a house, as a piece of furniture. I've always regretted not buying it. It was only $125.