In the last 4 months, my mother, father, aunt and stepmother have all died. The first three all wanted their bodies put in the earth - my father in the family plot near his parents and grandparents, my aunt near her kin, and my mother near my stepfather, the love of her life. My stepmother chose cremation. It seems odd to consider that the disposal of one’s earthly remains must be attended to. This can be a great subject or theme in a film – consider the wonderful film, Get Low in which Robert Duvall plays an old curmudgeon with a criminal past who decides to have his wake before he dies. Films where main characters face their own deaths and make decisions seem very timely just now. The recent success of the Al Pacino film on cable about Jack Kevorkian and the issues that must be considered when meting out morphine to terminal patients is becoming an increasingly important topic as our parents age.
Ask yourself where and how would your main character want to be buried?
