You see, I have for sometime expressed my desire to be cremated. It wasn’t some decision to frivilously come to. I though long and hard on this subject. I don’t think being dead and claustrophobia are an issue. Being dead, what would I or anyone else care, although a dear friend of mine who died of cancer back in 1999 had her remains put in a vault above ground. She didn’t like the idea of being buried in the ground.
I had to think about this for a bit. Why waste myself in an expensive box inside a concrete vault six feet in the ground. That’s the method around here for most folks.
This is the conclusion I came to. I want to live on in whatever form or fashion that I might be allowed. Cremation in and of itself isn’t going to yield what I wanted. Ashes can be scattered to the winds or the sea which has it’s own noble reasons, but I want my ashes to be put in a hole in the ground and have a Live Oak planted directly on top of my ashes.
You see, when this oak begins to take hold it will absorb the minerals in my ashes into itself
and those minerals and such that were once a part of my body will become a part of this tree. As this tree grows, I become a part of it’s life. As it continues to grow over the years I feel at least some particle of me will remain inside that tree giving back oxygen to the earth it came from and shade to people and animals seeking shelter from the sun. Maybe even have a swing hung from the husky limbs of this tree for a child to swing from. The last thing was a thought up until I remembered that I’m due a military burial place, since I’m a veteran of the Viet Nam era. I wonder now if the Veteran’s Cemetary will honor such a request. A plaque could be placed at the base of the tree. I could then have a bench placed there for people who come to visit their lost family members and sit there shaded by a tree which I would be a part of. A kind of solace for me to know I am giving back.
Livin' Small 
I had this exact same thought for the longest time, with the exception of the type of tree. I hadn’t really given that much thought, but I really like the idea of a Live Oak. However since this idea came to me, others have followed. I don’t think my latest idea would be legal, but I like it just the same. I want to go by way of the three B’s: Bugs, Birds and Beasts. No burning, no embalming, just leave me out for nature to reclaim. Not quite as poetic, but it’s the way everything else on the planet goes, so I figure why not me too? I hope your wishes are honored, and I hope I die a quick, painless death, alone, deep in the wilderness, on a hike. Then maybe my wishes can be honored as well. 😉
Your thoughts remind me of a movie I watched maybe a year ago about this guy who wanted to live in the wilderness. He found an old bus in some desolate place. How the bus got there, I don’t know, but he made it his home. He died in that bus and no one found him for a long while.
“Into the Wild” (2007), based on a true story. I heard about it on 20/20 or some such show before it was made into a movie. Sad how he (Christopher Johnson McCandless AKA Alex Supertramp (February 12, 1968 – August 1992)) died, but he lived how he wanted. I wonder how the story would have ended had he been a bit more knowledgeable in survival skills?
He ate something poisonous like mushrooms or something I believe. It paralyzed him and died I believe. It was sad. Survival skills are a must.
I don’t remember what they were called, but they looked like little seeds, and basically they kept him form digesting everything else he ate, and he slowly starved to death. The last words in his journal were “beautiful blueberries”. They said it was probably a peaceful way to go, because near the end of starving to death you become euphoric, but to me the sad part was how young he was. An unfortunate loss of what seemed like a very interesting, goodhearted guy.
Yeah, that was it. I remember that now. It was a sad movie, but I believe I’ll look for it to watch again. Thanks!