Ashes to Ashes

The Author Thomas H. Cook of The Fate of Katherine Carr wrote about a character in his story that believed tossing the cremated ashes on the ground in different places 'always struck me as the vain attempt of a transient creature to seek a famished immortality by mingling its powdery remains with the permanence of a planet that, if truth be told, was not permanent either.'~~~~~~~~

I kind of got my bristles up about that. ~~~~~~~~ My grandfather was Irish, he loved beauty.  He was a strong man that believed that hard work got you what you wanted and you don’t hold your hand out for anything.  You do for others before you do for yourself, and you don’t need much to live on.  Don’t keep fancies in the house that you don’t plan to use daily, and don’t throw something out that can be used for something or someone else.  He was a tough man, but this tough man even tried his hand at painting.  He loved God’s creation.  He found beauty in it, and he attempted without much success, to recreate it.  Now, did my grandfather think he could find permanence here on earth by scattering his remains upon his death?  No.  That's not why he asked this of us.  He knew he was with God, but that one last statement, that one last touch of himself on the places he loved was not for his benefit.  It was for OURS. ~~~~~~~~  When we miss him, is it better to look at an urn that holds his ashes or the beauty that he loved where his ashes now lay?  It's his last silent message to us that all the beauty you see in all these places I asked you to spread my ashes is what living and loving is all about.  God created this, God has a hand in all great things, and when you look and remember me, you will realize what I now know.~~~~~~~~

Deciding to be cremated and sharing your ashes with the wind should not be depressing or looked as if we try to hold on to Earth even after our death.  It should be our gentle reminder that we all come and go, and that we remember to see the beauty in things on Earth until we go home again.  I miss you Grandpa, Happy St. Patrick's Day.     :)