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Keeping my father’s urn on my balcony lets me get comfy with death
Some people turn silent while others talk playfully when the topic of their death and funerals comes up.
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A view of Mount Vernon Columbarium Complex in 2018. When it made way for the Bidadari estate, the writer took her father’s urn home from there.
PHOTO: ST FILE
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I keep my father’s now-empty urn on my balcony. I mentioned this during a conversation in which people chatted cheerily about how their own remains could be handled. It is so interesting how people react when the topic of their own death, funeral, advance medical directive and so on comes up.
Some people blanch at it or turn silent. Others talk playfully about their future remains: from being scattered at sea or in a garden, to being turned into a diamond, or unintentionally ending up as pet food.
