Peaceful Resting Place

Choosing a Peaceful Resting Place

Deciding on a final resting place for your loved one can be a very difficult decision to make. It becomes even more challenging when the options were never discussed or just slightly mentioned. While there is no guarantee that a loved one’s final resting place will be just as wished, there are ways to minimize the uncertainties and stress of making this important decision.

Your decision is less cumbersome when the resting place is driven by a family history of generations laid to rest in a particular cemetery. However, some people may not have this family history or plot options may be limited within the particular cemetery. When this is the case or multiple cemetery locations are within the family, your decision can be quite stressful.

Keep in mind that visiting a loved one’s gravesite can be essential in the healing process and comfort in the years that follow. That said, a convenient location can be a blessing and lessen the burden on those closest to the deceased family member.

Burial Plots and Monuments

Cemeteries offer various types of burial plot options which include:

1. Single plots

2. Companion Plots: sold together and designed to cater for two individuals—usually couples

3. Family Plots: quite popular to pre-purchase for a family

4. Plots for Cremated Remains: can be buried alongside caskets—take less space and allow for more than one urn to be buried in a plot

5. Urn Gardens for Cremains: often a dedicated landscaped area

Mausoleum

Entombment in a mausoleum refers to a building built to house the remains of one or more deceased person(s) after they have passed. It is considered an alternative form of traditional underground burial where the body is stored in a mausoleum in a defined space instead of underground.

Mausoleums are considered to be cleaner and dryer options and appeal to people who do not want to be cremated or are apprehensive about being buried underground. Mausoleums are quite common and many cemeteries provide single, companion, or family configurations.

Cremation

While cemeteries have often been the common consideration for final resting places, today, cremation services have become a popular wish for families and individuals. However, cremation also requires a decision for a final resting place. Below are some considerations with cremains and often multiple options are chosen.

1. An Urn: permanently hold the cremated remains for you and your family as a remembrance placed in a special location. Various sizes are available to accommodate different amounts of cremains to share among family members and friends. If you practice the Catholic faith, a loved one is to be cremated upon death, cremains placed in an appropriate urn or vessel, and placed in a cemetery the same way a burial would occur.

2. Scatter Cremains: the most popular way to memorialize a loved one.  Common locations are private property, controlled public land, golf course, hiking trail, and body of water—like a lake or ocean.

3. Cremation Jewelry: allow family members to keep a deceased loved one close to the heart. This can be a small, portable jewelry piece that holds a portion of the cremated remains or the cremated remains can be infused within the jewelry piece. The jewelry can be something that is worn in remembrance or displayed in a special location at home.

4. Transform Remains: transform cremated remains into a tree or plant to uniquely commemorate your loved one. Cremated remains are combined with organic nutrients built into planting urns to allow a tree or plant to become a living memorial. Remembrance plantings are a special way to celebrate a loved one through new life each season.