I have the cremains of three dogs and a cat on a shelf in my living room. I did not intend to have a shrine to dead pets… but once I had the first one cremated and ashes returned, it seemed only fair to do the same for the rest of them, including the dog that had once been ours but had been exclusively my ex’s for the 10 years before she died. I’m still waiting for my ex to collect her ashes, but I suspect she will remain with me.
I’m hoping to scatter them one day when I find the right place, but until then, they can stay where they are.
I’ve always wondered how that works carrying the ashes across borders. Sure, just don’t declare them. But if for some reason they were discovered at the country’s entrance point, what would happen? Could you be refused entry? Or is there paperwork that can be filled out beforehand to make it all aboveboard?
Mine died in September. In addition to the big urn, the funeral director gave me and my sisters each a “keepsake urn,” which is modeled after the big urn, but scaled like some morbid little Kinder Surprise.
When the weather permits - sometime in the summer - we intend to scatter her remains in the same place we left my brother, because that what she wanted.
I really regret not having the foresight to reunite the contents of “my” mini-urn with the main one, which is in my sister’s custody. I regret to say I can’t think of a better place to keep it than my sock drawer, for the time being. And yes - it creeps me right out, every morning.
My mom passed last March. The majority of her ashes are interred at the family plot, but I put a small amount in a small porcelain pot that she liked, and sealed it. It’s on my mantle with a picture of her, one of her ever-present red hats, and a lei from her services. I suppose it’s a sort of a small shrine, but it’s tasteful and unobtrusive. For me, at least, it’s helped with grieving. When I see it, I smile and remember her fondly.
I get that this isn’t going to be for everyone, but it works for me. I don’t consider it morbid, but I get how it could be perceived that way.
I don’t think it’s morbid, I think it’s sweet–but it just didn’t work for me. I like to think her ashes in a pond in a park where she and I used to walk a lot. One of her cats’ ashes is there too, as will be mine and my cats–soon there won’t be any room for the ducks and fish, for all the dead Jews and cats.
I haven’t really given it much thought, but the husband of a former co-worker always said that if she died first, he’d have her cremated and put the urn with her ashes on the coffee table, so he could introduce other women to his wife.
No. Those ashes are the remnants of a physical body that no longer exists, but then I believe in an after-life. I believe that my loved ones who have passed on are still with me. Hubby and I have agreed that cremation is the way to go, and whatever one does with the ashes is okay.
When my grandmother died, my aunt (her daughter) honored her wish to keep her ashes displayed on Gramma’s beloved old sewing machine. That was in 1989. Now, my aunt is in her 80s and neither of her kids are interested in taking on Gramma’s ashes. Their kids certainly aren’t. So, what to do? This bothers my aunt quite a bit because she’s the sort that takes duty seriously… I can see me having an old sewing machine and a blue earthenware jug of Gramma in my living room some day…
My father was cremated when he passed, we had a party with his ashes, then I took them to Turkey and scattered them in the Bosphorus. It was symbolic, fun, and most importantly I didn’t feel ghoulish about keeping dead body parts around. Also, my dad would have thoroughly approved.