Completely in the Dark

Death, then fire.

That’s how my parents went out of this world. And likely I will too.

It’s something I really try not to think about: how my earthly remains will be disposed of.

And for good reason. It’s completely out of my hands.

By the time I arrived in Florida in late May 2008, Mom had already been cremated. I was shocked by this, wishing I could’ve seen her one last time.

Then, after Dad died in early September of the same year, a similar regret. Except Pop’s body was still in the morgue when my brother Brian, our aunt, uncle and I met with the doctor.

I asked if I could see Dad’s body.

The doctor wanted me to think carefully about that request since, as he said, “blood had collected, post-mortem, on one side” of Dad’s face.

Did I want that to be my “last image of him?”

The others…