Now They Lay Me Down To Sleep

Last week when I was in the hospital Sherri and I documented our living wills. We will not let ourselves linger in a vegetative state or have our lives prolonged by machines. (Do Not Resuscitate, Pull the Plug, Release Me From My Misery) We are glad to have that decision completed. But we still have one more end of life decision to make. What are we going to request be done with our bodies when we die? I don’t know why this has been such a difficult topic for us. Our daughters are no help. They don’t want to talk about it. “Hey, we are not going to live forever! At our age it could be any time, and we need to get this thing settled”, I tell them.

We just don’t know! Are we going to have our bodies buried or are we going to be cremated? I’m fine with being cremated, but if Sherri goes before I do I might have a hard time with her cremation. Or do we prefer burial so that we will have a headstone as a memorial? Where is the best place to be buried? We have lived in so many places. We could be buried in the church cemeteries at any of the churches where I have pastored. But I’m not sure very many of those people would remember me anyway. In fact, I doubt if many would remember me no matter where I might be buried. I could be like Joseph in the Bible who requested that his bones be taken from the foreign land of Egypt to his homeland. I don’t know why it matters, but I’m a bit concerned that even in my homeland of Logan County Kentucky no one would put flowers on my grave. I mentioned to my brother that I might hire his daughter, Jenny, to occasionally visit my grave and leave a flower or two.

Maybe I’m overthinking this whole thing. I should be more like my brother. He said he doesn’t care what is done with his body. His plan now seems to be to have one of his friends who owns a truck take him after he dies from Nicholasville Kentucky to Logan County where someone could dig a hole, throw him in and cover him up. I told him he’d better check the laws first about transporting a body across county lines in the bed of a pickup truck. For me there would be the matter of crossing three state lines. But I kind of like that idea. I’m sure that burial plan would be much cheaper than what Price Funeral Home in Lewisburg would charge although they do a great job handling the dearly departeds’ remains. As they say in the funeral business, “You can always count on ole’ Bryson Price, the funeral director. He is that last person who will let you down.”.