Last third of COTD book

precis: Further alternatives are available that do not involve embalming and turning your loved one into 'something else', including home burials and 'natural' burials.

Interesting Quotes:

• "The body is often beautiful that first day. By the third day, the deceased begins to look like an empty shell. and it is often at that point a family may be ready to let go." - page 110
• "The whole feeling that we were giving a gift to Mary, and while there were practical matters to consider, we're doing this slowly and reverently in honor of her." - page 111
• "The coffins of the common folk were generally fashioned from pine... for more affluent customers, he might use one of the richer-grained hardwoods like walnut, chestnut and sometimes mahogany imported from Cuba, polished to a high sheen." - page 134

Analysis: This is much less of an analysis and just more of a reflection since I've finished the book. In the beginning of the unit, and especially in the book, it mentioned a cardboard coffin as the cheapest option - totaling only $55. When I first read this idea, while I was understanding of the fact that some people might not be able to afford more than that, I felt that personally, this would be an unacceptable purchase for me to make for a family member. Cardboard boxes are what we ship and store things in - our food, our junk, garbage and yes, while homeless people do sometimes craft homes from them, something 'makeshift' like this seems like it would also earn frowns from the rest of the family if I made this decision. It would make me feel cheap. At least, in the beginning, that was how I felt. I never felt the need for steel coffins or these extra 'preservative' coffins since they don't even help preserve the body itself. (Which is acceptable to me. I don't know why but even if it isn't a pretty or glamorized process, I feel that decomposition is natural and acceptable.) However, after reading about the home burials and doing my own minor research, I found that the families aren't truly neglecting the loved ones who they give these coffins. They decorate them just as much, if not more, than other families do for standard burials by placing trinkets inside of the casket. Instead, the pictures and paintings and messages seem much more sincere.

Still, I think my book has lacked something entirely. While all these options are fine and dandy in theory, while they each may bring closure, I found that the books lack of how to better a standard funeral without choosing one of these alternatives disappointing. I feel like if the author had included the questions a family should ask to get what they desire, key phrases they should use, it would be more beneficial to the reader. Again, though, this is only because I feel that a family should be able to do whatever brings them the most closure. If a 'standard' but cleaner funeral is what will give them that, they should still be allowed to do it.