tiaras optional

"My only argument is with those who do not view the world as cynically as I do." Michael Korda

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

What Happens After We're Gone?

Two weeks ago, a women who had lived in my building for many years died. It wasn’t really a huge shock, since she had been in bad health the whole time I’ve lived here, but it was still sort of a surprise because I had just seen her in the lobby a couple of days before. Although I didn’t know her, I felt sad because she was a real fixture in the building and she seemed like a very nice person and relatively happy for someone who appeared to be in constant pain, something that would probably make me a miserable bitch.

The other day, I heard two of the other long-time residents talking about her. Apparently, there hasn’t been a funeral yet, because no one has claimed her body from the city. I assume it’s because a family member has to claim it, and there’s no one in the area, but this depresses me profoundly. At first, I felt good that I had Lord Kissington, because at least I have someone to claim my body. But then I realized that he could die first and we might not have had any children. Or perhaps we did have a kid, but he/she hates me for trying to force him/her to live out my failed dream of becoming a champion ice dancer. Who would claim my body then? I suppose it won’t really matter, because I’ll be dead, but I’d like to think that there will be someone around to take care of things. It makes me think of Dorothy Parker, whose ashes went unclaimed for 17 years after her death. I just hope that when the time comes, I haven’t pissed off everyone I know.

4 Comments:

  • At 2/28/07, 1:53 PM, Blogger JordanBaker said…

    Isn't there a deadline--like a couple of months or something--after which the city inters you in Potters' Field/Peckerwood Hill/whatever they call the poor cemetary, and if your relatives find out later they have to have you exhumed and reburied at their own expense?

     
  • At 3/1/07, 1:51 AM, Blogger Lady Tiara said…

    jb: oh, that's even more depressing. and given that this is DC, would they even be able to find the body if someone came to have you reburied?

     
  • At 3/1/07, 3:01 PM, Blogger JordanBaker said…

    No; you would doubtless end up with some hobo's body buried in your family plot.

     
  • At 3/4/07, 9:32 PM, Blogger HowNotToDate said…

    This is why I remind my brothers on a regular basis to tell their children (if they should have them someday) to take care of me.

     

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