Keeping the ashes of a loved one...

[Charlotte ~08]

I was reading an article recently how someone has "Granny in the glovebox" of their car and how another relative reacted in horror when they found them!!!

Do you know of anyone who keeps their "loved ones" ashes either at home, with them at all times, or even in the car, instead of scattering or burying them? I'm really talking about human remains, not pets here. I can fully understand how hard it is to let go, but find the idea of having "granny" on the shelf, or glovebox , a little morbid and strange. JMHO.

 

[NMAmy]

My mother keeps my dad's ashes. And when she goes to the cottage for the summer, she takes him up there with her. It makes her feel better so it's fine with me. After she dies, they'll be buried together.

When he was first cremated, she did take him over to my uncle's house to show him the urn she'd gotten. I told her then that while it was fine to keep the ashes, she probably didn't want to be taking Daddy over to the relatives' houses for dinner on a regular basis anymore.

 

[Evil Genius]

I have my husbands ashes at home. Next to my bed. It's very comforting to me.

 

[Kae]

My uncle had my grandpa in his car for almost 3 yrs. now he didn't put my grandma in his car because he said she would tell him how to drive.

Kae

 

[C.Ann]

Most of my late DH's ashes were buried - however, I purchased two small brass urns (about 3 and a half inches high) in beautiful crushed velvet boxes and had some of his ashes put in there.. (One for me, one for my DD..)

When I move to the lake every year, "he" goes with me.. During the months that I'm here at DD's, he's in my bedroom..

 

[fall08CP]

My grandfather's ashest are in grandma's pantry, right next to the cookies. That's where he would want to be for eternity!

 

[james'mommy]

DH and I both plan to be cremated. So who ever goes first will be sitting on the mantle next to the dogs. I even tease DH that I'm going to get him an urn to match the ones we use for the dogs. He wants part of him to be spread on the football field at Penn State and I want some of me to be spread at Disney (I'm not picky I told him to suprise me with where) and then we want the rest of us to be mixed together and be dumped in the ocean so that we can travel the world together.

 

[Tony-NJ]

We have FIL and BIL both here at our home, Some at MIL's home and some at our shore house..

 

[HERSEY]

We had my Dad's ashes for years after he died. I liked the thought that he was still near. We did spread his ashes and my stepmom's after she died.

 

[bicker]

... mixed together ...

Glad we're not the only ones.

 

[Mean Queen]

My dad has my mom's ashes at his house. She asked that she be buried with him when he dies. Until then, she stays in a sculpture we got at her favorite art festival. My aunt has ashes from my mom and her brother in a locket she wears.

 

[Pooh67_68]

So did my mom, and their dogs ash box is with his.

My mother keeps my dad's ashes.

 

[EthansMom]

I want to be cremated, but I've strictly instructed that they can disburse my cremains however EXCEPT keeping me around in an urn or flushing me down the toilet.

They make some fairly tasteful jewelry that can hold small amounts of cremains if anyone in mine or DH's family wants to keep a part of us.

I've told DH that if something happened to him, the kids and I would hire a sailboat and put his cremains in the ocean with a couple bottles of good beer.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

Until January, we had my grandparents' ashes in the TV cart in my spare room. They had both wanted to be cremated, but neither of them stated what they wanted done afterward. Grandpa died in 1998, Gram in 2007. I took some of Grandpa with me to Chicago in the summer of 2006, so one of my uncles could scatter him in Jackson Park. Then in January of this year, one of my cousins died, and my mother took the ashes with her when she went to the funeral. We're waiting on the DD214 form from the government, so that they can be buried in the same veteran's cemetery as my cousin. But up until now...I'd be sitting here on the computer, with my grandparents "sitting" here right next to me!

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

For 6 years I kept my brother (most of him, anyway) in the linen closet in a Williams-Sonoma shopping bag until his ashes could be disposed of in the manner he specified. I disposed of all but one small container and I upgraded him to a Brighton bag. Stylin', I tell you.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

My Uncle is in his tool box. Its sad really because Auntie has never really gotten through the grieving process and it's been over 20 years. She won't let any of the family even talk about finding a resting place for him or scattering his ashes.

 

[Abbie]

...we want the rest of us to be mixed together and be dumped in the ocean so that we can travel the world together.

I think that's a very sweet idea.

My dad died in November. We had him cremated and his ashes were to be returned to me until the memorial service. Shortly after making those arrangements, my daughter and her fiance were sitting at the kitchen table to go over wedding cake designs and samples with the cake decorator, and the doorbell rang and there was Dad (being delivered)! We joked that he heard we had cake.... We laugh now, but it was so surreal to go from the sadness of having his ashes delivered to discussing such a pleasant topic as cake all in the space of a few minutes!

Now he's at my sister's house, just hanging out. I suspect she's appropriated some of him to spread on her flower gardens because that was a love they shared, but it doesn't matter to me. That's not him in that box. Oddly enough, we had our beloved dog cremated last month and it was much harder to get his ashes back than my dad's....seemed more "real" I guess.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

When my grandma passed away, my uncle (her son) was just too lazy to do anything with her ashes, so they sat in the urn in his garage for nearly 4 yrs. Finally my mom said something to him about it, so he took her ashes to her house where my mom said she was going to spread them in a place my grandma loved.
Well, for the past 6 months now, she sits on a shelf by the woodstove, and my mom said, in a weird way, it makes her feel better

But, yeah, I dont' know I could have her in my house.....

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

My great uncle was cremated and his remains put in a marble urn. He was supposed to be interred with my grandmother (his sister) in her casket when she passed, but we decided to just keep it! His urn sits in my mother's house in the china cabinet in the dining room. Once during our family reunion we brought him down and set him on the wall so he could "be there" I guess we are more than a little crazy. I have no problem with having his urn in the house and I don't think you have to scatter or dispose of someones remains

 

[JessicaR]

when my grandparents passed they were cremated. The separate urns were brought to my parents house to decide how my dad and his brothers wanted to proceed. So my Uncle made three beautiful clay urns, one for each brother. Each urn now has a bit of both of them and that makes everyone very happy because thats where they belong, together.

My sisters and my female cousins and I were surprised by my Mom with gold lockets that have a bit of them both sealed inside. Its so comforting to have them close to our hearts.