No matter how much I try to put it off, I know one day I'll come down to this: choosing a memorial plan.
It's not something easy. My friend's reactions are as varied as the number of personalities they keep. In fact, most of them look at it as something eerie, one that normally doesn't find its way in our conversations over coffee and zero-calorie drinks. There are even a few who completely don't understand why on earth would somebody even think of locking horns with Death himself for even just a moment. Others look at it with prying eyes. They suspect I'm up to something or some strange disease has decided to drop by and make myself its home.
They find it hard to understand that, for people like me who live alone and far from family, it's the least that I can do to make things easier for whomever I'm going to leave behind. It's the least that I make sure will go right lest I be nefariously remembered as an agony and bother up to the last minute. Which is not very glamorous.
And so today, I went over some memorial plans offered by one local company. I don't know what came to me, but it was enough to pull me through several pages of documents. First, you choose the type of plan you plan to avail. Depending on your preference, you either opt for cremation or the traditional memorial service package. But for either plans, you soon find yourself besieged with several choices coming one after another --- what's the preferred wood type for the casket, or will it be metal or bronze instead, will the urn be first class marble, a high-gloss or high-luster finish for the casket, sealer-type or not, full or half-viewing, rich silk interiors or just quilted silk, full-length handles or just supports at the corners? So whoever said dying is easy should be shot!
In the end, you're consumed by a certain kind of peace and calmness knowing how everything is taken cared of so your family will no longer be troubled. They can then spend the rest of the time talking about how nice you were as a kid, how you almost got that girl pregnant, why you loved Madonna and Cher, the number of times you failed math in college, where you love to show off your biceps, the colorful friends you keep, and the many love you won and lost.
And everybody will have a grand time during the wake.
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