RSVP...

So what DOES one wear when hosting your own viewing?  I guess it doesn't matter if you've worn it before, or even if someone else is wearing the same exact outfit.  You can't really die of embarrassment since you're already dead.  However ... whatever you're wearing, you going to be wearing it FOREVER.  So you better like it.  A LOT.  The one decision I haven't been able to make is do I want to be buried or cremated?  Mausoleums are a nice idea, but you have to worry that yours might become the hangout for the local teenagers on the weekends.  I've seen many caskets exhumed on television and it appears that water frequently seeps into them.  A leaky basement is bad enough.  I couldn't stand being cold and  wet.  If I do go for the cremation several other concerns arise.  You can't be embalmed if you want to be cremated.  If you're not embalmed you can't have a viewing.  So it's either cremation with no viewing, or viewing and burial but no cremation.  And then what?  If I'm cremated I'd like my ashes placed into a columbarium.  That's a building in the cemetery where the walls have slots to house urns.  I don't want my kids to be burdened with my ashes, or if I'm married at the time of my death, have to worry that his new wife will suck me up with the vacuum.  The columbariums look like condos for dead people.  It's easy to imagine all kinds of activities going on in there for the dearly departed residents to engage in.  That could be fun.  Still ... I've always wanted a nice viewing.  A really fun one.  With music, food, chocolate, all kinds of sweets, Christmas decorations, drinking, singing and dancing.  I envision a band escorting me to the cemetery like they do in New Orleans with saxophones and trombones playing old gospel hymns. I want everyone to have such a good time that they look forward to going to the next funeral like mine, even if they have to host their own.  (continued ...)