The 9 Things No One Tells You About Scattering Ashes

Make sure that the crematorium provides a suitable container for scattering ashes. Mine locked my father's ashes in a copper box that was hermetically sealed (or maybe it was a Chinese puzzle box). In any rate, when we arrived by sailboat at the "dump site" neither my brother-in-law (the only person to accompany me) nor myself could open it. Reasoning that it was meant to be tossed in as is (I had told the funeral director that we were burying him at sea), we said a few appropriate words and tossed him overboard, box and all. The damn thing floated. I told my brother-in-law to keep an eye on it while I went below to find something to scoop it out with. (The sailboat was too large to simply reach over the side) By the time I returned with a bucket and a rope, I discovered that a breeze had come along and blown us away. My brother-in-law was standing on the transom, hanging onto the backstay and pointing in the general direction where we thought it was. I started the engine and we circled for about an hour without finding it. He speculated that it sank because he had seen bubbles coming out before it drifted out of view. I was tired of the game of hide-and-seek and agreed. We left. For all I know, dad is circling the Pacific on the currents to this day. He always was a cantankerous SOB