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Here is a message from Ms. Mandy Corrado, reader of the Order:

Hey there! One of your posts (not sure which one; maybe the coffin shelves) sent me down a rabbit hole online. I ended up coming across some information on “natural burials”… I have ALWAYS had strong feelings about what I wanted done with my body after death, but I never looked into the actual feasibility of my wishes. My wish has always been to not be embalmed and to be wrapped in a shroud or in a simple non-toxic coffin and buried under a tree, or in a very naturey place. Well, it turns out that most places have laws prohibiting “natural” bodies from going into the ground. Apparently, from what I could tell, cemeteries have to have special permits to actually bury bodies into the ground. Otherwise, they have to have cement vaults and the bodies need to be preserved. The fact that there are laws like this shock me, but what shocked me more is that it said that very few green burials are even requested, which seems so weird to me.

Here’s the ultra cool part: There were some comments on the article, one of which lists my dad’s family cemetery as one of the only places around that does natural burials. How cool is that??? I’m only 30 and not planning on dying soon and my husband and I have discussed our wishes with each other, but we’ve never figured out WHERE to be buried. This is the coolest news I could learn about my impending death… My FAMILY CEMETERY is one of the ONLY local cemeteries that do the kind of burial I want! …It’s fate! Thanks for helping me figure all this out. (I emailed my husband about it right away and we’re going to make sure our families know both of our wishes, just in case something happened to both of us…)

I can’t tell you how happy this makes me.  And it’s not just because she’s selected a type of body disposition I happen to agree with, either.  It’s the talking to her husband, researching, thinking of what she wants done with her mortal shell.

People will tell you “it’s just a corpse, do whatever.”  It’s NOT just a corpse.  It’s a powerful symbol for the living.  Not only the family of the dead person, but for the person themselves, before they die.  I guarantee that thinking about your death, planning for it,  and living with its reality will change the rest of your life for the better.

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