[Magdalen] Cremation (was A good idea?

[ME Michaud]

In November 1977 my mother suffered a GI bleed. Treatment at the time was
partial gastrectomy. Long recovery period.

We had Thanksgiving dinner together in her hospital room. It was growing
dark, we were sitting together, holding hands, looking out over the town
she loved twinkling under a silent winter sky. All was peaceful. She was
recovering well.

"Ma, if you'd died, would you have wanted to be cremated?"
"God, no! I'd have wanted to be buried down in the South Cemetery. With my
parents."

One year to the day later she died. And I'll always be grateful we had that
conversation at a moment in time when we were both filled with hope and
faith in a long and healthy future.

On Sunday, April 24, 2016, Marion Thompson <marionwhitevale at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Perhaps as we advance in years we are more comfortable with the
> arrangements we are making ahead of the hour than our offspring.  We are
> being sensible and writing the rules according to our own desires, while
> they don't want to be reminded of their future loss and find such signs
> morbid.
>
>