Try Our Easy Urn Finder Search

The title of today’s blog post is what you will find at the top of Perfect Memorials website, a site that my sister Illia and I spent several hours perusing, separately and together, about two weeks ago. We were trying to determine what kind of containers to purchase to hold Georg’s ashes. What should have been a sad and sobering task was made lighter by our shared amazement at the world of cremation urns and how many different kinds there are.

And how much they cost.

We were looking at biodegradable and water soluble urns, because we plan to release these remains in different places that were important to Georg: the island of Melos, the Pacific Ocean, Lake Michigan, and near the grave of his Uncle Nick in Detroit. We saw everything from water soluble urns shaped like sea shells that retail for $509 to plastic bags that dissolve when they hit water going for a mere $12.95.

For a short time, we were just going to get a couple of these bags, but when I told my mom about this (she and my father remained friends despite a divorce that took place over 30 years ago) all she said was “plastic bags???” in such a way that I knew this was a really bad idea, despite the good reviews these bags received on the Perfect Memorial website. “Dad in a bag” just would not cut it.

We settled on a sky blue biodegradable box ($24.95) with a water soluble bag inside it, and four tiny brass urns ($10.61 each) that we can take to different locations around the globe, all in good time. In the meantime, the ashes will be well-stored.

I dropped the containers off yesterday morning at the funeral home. The hard part is yet to come, that is, picking them up. I am planning to do this around 4:00 today. I will imagine that Illia is with me and she will cry with me and then we will make each other laugh so hard we will almost pee our pants. We have done this kind of laughing an awful lot together in the last few months as we were packing up my father’s studio back in Hamtramck. But that is another story for another time.

I will find some place to put these remains in my house until the time comes to scatter them to the wind, sea, and earth. Like with everything else surrounding my father’s death, my sister and I will manage to get through this. No matter how hard I search, I see no other way.