Dick Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter of October 14, 2011: "Turn Your Loved One Into Live Ammunition" sure did present what may seem to be a strange new way of honoring your loved one who has now passed on...to most of his faithful readers who commented it was an idea that was indeed just down right weird so with this posting I am sure to offend some of my genealogy friends and maybe even family members. They may think for sure that this writer has officially lost her mind!
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| Early photo postcard from my shooting collection |
Over the years I have seen many strange things show up in the way of honoring our ancestors and loved ones. Burials in vehicles or huge carved vehicles of stone above, a five foot sundial, a statue of Mickey Mouse to mark the final resting place and jewelry made just to hold a speck of ash in order to keep the loved one near to heart...so why not the product that the company HolySmoke LLC has to offer? Live ammunition filled with ashes to be kept or "fired" in the appropriate setting in honor of one's life.
I should explain that there are as many ways to be buried or remembered after cremation as there are flavors of jelly beans and just as many reasons why some people choose one way over another. Personal beliefs, cost of a funeral, dislike of conventional ways, are but a few to mention. I am one who has rather unconventional views on the matter. My husband and I have conventional lots in our local cemetery, next to my beloved grandparents and parents. That is where our gravestone will someday be as I do believe that a final little plot of land on this earth is all that we can physically leave behind in addition to our offspring, a little spot for family to come visit and for future genealogists to someday discover us and our history. I will not be "living" at the location of my gravestone as my requests to my children have already been to have my ashes placed, spread -if you will, in places that I have grown up and loved. Places where I have felt the closest to the loved ones who have gone before me and where my family has experienced great joy together.
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| I guess this is "tooting my own horn"! |
On to the point of this rambling on! I grew up learning to shoot, hunting with my Dad from age eight. I was the girl with two much older brothers and when they were grown and gone I had all of Daddy's attention and love. We were shooting and hunting buddies and I was spoiled rotten! Those were some of the best times of my life and yes, guns and shooting have always been a big part of my life. I met my husband on the shooting line of a trap club and we have traveled to hundreds of shooting ranges and have shot millions of rounds together over our 40 years of marriage. In 1971 while in college I was the National Collegiate Women's Trapshooting Champion. I am a family genealogist, my other love interest in life but I have the great outdoors in my blood and burnt gunpowder is my favorite smell so naturally being "shot" out of a cartridge or better yet out of a shotgun shell when my days on this earth come to an end is an awesome idea to me! I can't think of a better send off or a better resting place for my ashes through eternity than being spread over the land I love. I can just hear my sons saying "there goes Mom -dead bird!" (The call on the trap field for a scored broken/hit target.)
All strange, morbid and funny thoughts aside for now, I hope I have not lost all my readers! If you are the unconventional or adventurous type, go ahead and check out the Holy Smoke website if you too want to GO OUT WITH A BANG!
