Harvey’s (my mom’s fiance) passed away recently and tonight a memorial service was held. We took the kids and made visited for a little while. It was sort of like a viewing, but no body. She made the decision to be cremated. That let to some discussion with my mom about why LDS tend to frown on cremation. I think the generally reason why is that we view the body as a temple and prefer not to burn it and grind up the bones. Instead we tend to let nature return the body to the earth naturally.

To me that sort of begs the question of why we even have viewings. Why try to preserve the body? If I had my choice I would say, put me in a cheap pine box and skip the viewing. Carry on with the funeral though, I’d be curious to hear what my family has to say about me 🙂