cremation fun facts

I know that title soounds all wrong, but in helping to arrange the cremation of my recently deceased brother's remains I learned of a couple of interesting options.  While discussing the cremation process someone in our group flippantly referred to it as a Viking funeral (there has to be a little levity) to which the funeral director replied that that is an option.  Turns out you can buy a light weight balsa wood urn shaped like a boat that you can set on fire and float out into the middle of a pond or river. Another option, more suited to an ocean cruise, is an urn made of salt (like the salt blocks animals lick) which you can drop into the ocean where it will float for a while and then dissolve so the ashes can sink into the water. I still like the option I saw on a movie called "Poms" where a fictitious funeral home advertised urns that could be shot into the air where they would explode like fireworks in a shower of beautiful colors. Sadly, for my brother, we're not a very adventurous family so his ashes will be placed in a beautiful, but very traditional, solid wood military cremation urn with the US Army symbol on the side since that was his military branch.   Then the urn will be placed on a shelf in the First Pres columbarium. A nice quiet place to rest and he'll be close to my husband, and eventually me.