Using the Wish List: Choosing a Cremation Urn or Sympathy Gift with Others
by Jerri Haaven, Grief Recovery Specialist and Celebrant.
Image by Hey Paul Studios*
Are you looking to find a cremation urn that feels perfectly right for your mom or dad? An urn that others in the family will also like? Or maybe you’re helping your parent choose a cremation urn for a deceased husband or wife. Perhaps you're one of a group of colleagues looking for a sympathy gift for a mutual friend. Logistically if you live in different areas, searching for a cremation urn or sympathy gift online and coming to agreement can be challenging. The "wishlist" can come to the rescue by making it easy for everyone to collaborate in the decision.
As you first grapple with the reality that your loved one is gone, simultaneously there are memorial plans that must be made, death notifications to be sent to family and friends, paperwork to complete, and an obituary to write to name a few of the tasks. And in the midst of it all, it’s likely that you aren’t sleeping or eating well.
Knowing that your loved one wished to be cremated puts you on a path. How can you and immediate family members navigate the decision of choosing the right urn? It’s a simple, but important choice. A cremation urn is the final resting place for your loved one’s ashes. It will represent the poignancy of the deceased's life. Cremation urns embody a lifetime of experiences and memories – many of which will be different from one family member to another. Each member might choose an urn that represents one meaningful aspect of the loved one that resonates with him or her alone.
Shopping for a cremation urn online
The convenience of online shopping allows the shopper to add things into a shopping cart while continuing to browse. Once a final choice is made, completing the transaction is usually simple, as we all know. The same shopping experience holds true with cremation urns and sympathy gifts.
OneWorld Memorials (“OWM”) recognizes the need for a close-knit group, such as families, to enjoy the capacity of sharing cremation urn choices in order to make a final decision. For this reason OWM has a “Wish List” feature on the website. This functionality allows family members to add cremation urns, cremation jewelry, or keepsake urns of their choosing to their Wish List.
With an account in place, the user can share the Wish List with others via Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook or Mail.
This simple feature affords a group the ability to browse each other’s selections, and narrow the Wish List down to an agreed-upon choice.
When my dad died, my siblings and I each had our own idea of what we wanted in an urn. We knew my dad wanted to be cremated and buried at Ft. Snelling. We agreed upon a single chest-style urn for the bulk of his ashes that would be interred. But we each wanted to choose an individual keepsake urn that would depict unique memories of him. We then selected our own cremation keepsake urns for display at home. We avoided stress, and most importantly, we all felt respected in the process.
Choosing a sympathy gift together
The Wish List is also convenient when family or group members are choosing a sympathy gift.
Choosing a sympathy gift that will be given from a group carries the same dynamics as choosing a single urn from a group. The process requires browsing a wide range of choices, narrowing down, negotiating, and coming to agreement. Gift options include jewelry such as the sterling silver necklace “Love remains,” a variety of memory lamps that emanate a soft light, memory keepsake boxes, and hand blown-glass sun catchers, to name a few items. The Wish List provides a way for any group to choose a meaningful sympathy gift for a grieving family member, friend, or colleague.
Check out our Wish List feature for yourself. Create an account, browse, and add a favorite item to your Wish List. Return when you're ready!
*Image can be found here: http://bit.ly/2azWbgg
Jerri Haaven is a freelance writer, and a certified Grief Recovery Specialist and Celebrant. When caring for her dad, who suffered from dementia and COPD, Jerri struggled with the negative side effects of his illness. She developed positive outlets to express herself and recover from her loss. Today as a certified Grief Recovery Specialist and Celebrant, she uses her skills to help people who are in the midst of their own personal story of grief and loss.