Funerals... a different take...

Funerals..
Unusually they are sad and solemn. Reflecting on life, honoring the dead...

then again, I would not want crowds of crying people clad in black lamenting during my funeral.
I want people to celebrate life.. their life, my life... take a second look at their life and hopefully make a change for the better.. or give them courage to do the things on their list of things to do before they die.
I want to punctuate my life with a smile.

I thought about this the other day when i was listening to the radio.. Kidd Kraddik in the Morning.. on the way to my internship.

They mentioned that at Heath Ledger's funeral, everyone stripped down and jumped in the ocean.. when they came out- they all seemed at peace.. it was their way of closure..

others they talked about:

-> in honor of a tow truck driver of 40 years, a funeral procession consisted of 75 tow trucks.
-> the whole front 2 rows of the funeral broke into song, "At the Coco Cabana" since it was a song that the family used to sing in order to make the person who had died laugh..
-> everyone wearing pink.. males and females.. it was a little girl who had died and pink was her favorite color... as they walked out the door, they let bunches of pink balloons sail into the air.
-> since the deceased's favorite holiday was Halloween and he died 6 days before Halloween, people came to the funeral dressed in costumes..
-> the artist daughter of the deceased created a beautiful and moving painting with the deceased's ashes
->Nadine Jarvis discovered a way to create pencils out of the ashes of the deceased, as the website says, the average body can create up to 240 pencils.
-> a company, Eternal Ascent, will place your ashes in a biodegradable balloon that is released into the air. It eventually pops and your ashes are dispersed....to be rained down on earth..
-> Heavens Abover Funerals allows people to go out with a bang... they pack your ashes into fireworks and then create a remarkable firework display in your memory.
-> Founder of the Body Shop Anita Roddick, who died last year, opted for a camper van to be used as her hearse.
-> From My Funky Funeral, a website "Keith Richards, of Rolling Stones fame, has recently admitted to snorting his late father's ashes with a couple of lines of cocaine. He later retracted the claim but we tend to believe his original line ... only he nose!"



some things i want to have at my funeral... a few ideas...

-> Glitter
-> Bubbles
-> handouts of lollipops to every person who comes
-> no black.. better yet, no shoes..
-> no fancy clothes.. flowy dresses.. khakis.. jeans.. shorts.. costumes.. Feetsies pajamas... whatever you feel I would enjoy, wear it.
-> handing out a sheet of paper to all guests with numbers down the side.. with the title "Things to do before I die"
-> a bonfire... with people dancing around it... taken away by the music.. that would be fun too..
-> planting a tree in YOUR yard... (Thank you Krystle for this idea.. She is doing that in honor of Kyle, because who knows where my family will be moving to... she can wake up every morning and look out her window and see kyle's tree...)
->

i love you steve erwin..