My Own Burial

Selecting the items you would like to be buried with is a very odd task. Attempting to select the possessions that best represent yourself is a difficult and slightly morbid process which requires careful consideration.  I have been lucky enough to have never experienced any serious near death experiences.  Because of this I have never fully considered the act of dying since I was a small child, during which time I lived in considerable fear of the Grim Reaper.  I remember when I was five my mother took my brother and I to a camp site which was situated directly beside a grave yard. I spent five sleepless nights fearing the gravestones and what they represented.  It wasn't until several years after that I released my new found fear of death.


Items that I would like to have buried with me include:
1) White Plumeria and White Gardenia flowers - I was born in Hawaii and both of these flowers grow widely across the islands.  They are my two favorite flowers and they both have a beautiful scent.  Furthermore, my parents first house had a large Gardenia bush in the backyard and my mother used to put the flowers in my hair as a child.  To this day their scent reminds me of the Island I was born on.
2) Simple Jewelry - I would like to wear my families gold signet ring to represent my connection to them.  I would also like to wear the necklace my mother bought me for my high school graduation.  This necklace depicts a ship which has crashed on the rocks and reads "Such is Life".  I like to think of it more simply as Shit Happens, deal with it. 
3) Photos - I collect photos of my travels, my family and my friends like a pack rat.  It only makes sense that some of the most important ones stay with me forever.
4) My Pencil Case - It may sound strange, but I bought this pencil case when I was on a volunteer trip in Nicaragua building a library.  I have continued to use this same pencil case for five years because it reminds me of one of the happiest times of my life during which I underwent personal revitalization.  Furthermore, this pencil case has brought me incredibly good luck on every exam I have ever written. 



My strong fear of death as a child remained with me until I was ten and I read the series "His Dark Materials" by Philip Pullman. In the final book "The Amber Spyglass" the main character releases the ghosts from the world of the dead and the description of the process released my fear of death.  

"...all the particles that make you up will loosen and float apart, just like your daemons did... But your daemons en't just nothing now; they're part of everything. All the atoms that were them, they've gone into the air and the wind and the trees and the earth and all the living things. They'll never vanish. They're just part of everything. ... You'll drift apart, it's true, but you'll be out in the open, part of everything alive again."

"The first ghost to leave the world of the dead was Roger. He took a step forward, and turned to look back at Lyra, and laughed in surprise as he found himself turning into the night, the starlight, the air... and then he was gone, leaving behind such a vivid little burst of happiness that Will was reminded of the bubbles in a glass of champagne."

These quotes made me understand that even if religion was wrong and nothing happened after death I would still be part of life, by becoming everything.  Because of this I think I would strongly consider cremation.  I would prefer to be spread over the ocean.  And instead of a grave I would like a park bench overlooking the Sea, with a gardenia bush right beside it.  So the beautiful scent can travel through the wind.