This weekend we're going to a memorial service for Ryan's Grandma Lillian, who passed away in January. We were trying to prep Todd for the event tonight and were explaining the process of cremation. Mostly, we didn't want him to come up with any crazy comments at the actual ceremony.
So I told him that some people choose to have their bodies cremated, which means they burn their body and then put it in an urn, or a jar. We happened to be finishing dinner, so I said, "It's probably about the size of this pitcher."
Throughout this entire conversation, he has a classic Todd look on his face, the "you've-got-to-be-kidding-me look." So when I finally finish my explanation, he looks at the pitcher, looks at me, and says, "So, like, her foot's in there?" I guess he had been trying to figure out what body part would fit in a juice pitcher if the rest was burned, and the foot seemed the most likely.
So we re-explained that it's just the ashes that they put in the urn, not an actual body part. Interesting things to explain to your children. I believe he's still a bit mystified. But at least we had the conversation at home, not at the funeral.
1 comment:
I am sorry to hear about Ryan's grandma :(
My Grandpa was cremated a few years ago. It was a difficult concept for the boys. "Luckily" just a few months before we had a lovely opportunity to learn way more about it than we wanted to teach them when my crazy parent's dog died and they had it cremated and the urn was on the mantel for the kids to see and ask questions about over and over.
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