Trappist Caskets

While writing that last post, I found myself going to the Wikipedia to verify the existence of the alleged link between Dostoevsky's Porfiry Petrovich and TV's Lieutenant Columbo. Being a compulsive reader, I naturally scanned through the article and was once again astonished by the fact that while in her 20's Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek:Voyager's Captain Janeway) also briefly played a character who may or may not have been Columbo's ex-wife Kate. From there, of course, I followed the link to the Wikipedia entry on Kate Mulgrew, which stated that she "recently did a radio commercial for the Trappist monks of New Melleray Abbey on their line of Trappist Caskets." Of course, at this point I had no choice but to follow the link to the Trappist Caskets site.

Trappist Caskets! Holy crap! (If you will forgive the blasphemy. )

These things are beautiful, and very affordable. I have always wanted to be buried (or, preferably, cremated, after all of my fillings and other artificial bits have been ripped out and after any useful organs have been pulled out for transplant) in a pine box, simple and without ornamentation - something very much along the lines of their $875 simple shaped casket. If I had had the time, and the presence of mind, and the knowledge of this site, I would have chosen one of these caskets (even a more ornate one) for my father over the powder-blue number we picked from our undertaker's limited supply.

After my father's death I touched on the subject with my mother, and she said that she would like something similar or identical to the package we selected for my father. Still, now that we know that this option exists, maybe she'll reconsider.

Not that she'll be there to admire her casket, or I for mine. You don't get to smell your own flowers at a funeral. That privilege is reserved for another sort of ceremony.