Last December my dad was diagnosed with lung cancer. He passed away two weeks ago.
He was 76 years old and so full of life. He still had a lot of traveling, dancing, golfing, and volleyball-playing to do, as well as fart-joke telling. My dad was a character, as is witnessed here, in his obituary that he wrote himself.
In the months leading up to his passing, I worked with dad to make sure his affairs were in order. With the help of my friend Amy, who has a business called "Good to Go", we took care of many details and were even able to plan the food that we would offer at his Celebration of Life party.
One of the recurring themes at his party, was his love of saving money. He loved a bargain. He wasn't afraid to spend money on big-ticket items, like new cars, but you can be sure that if he was going out to eat, he would be using a coupon. Which leads me to the reason for the title of this post...
Dad told me years ago that he had already arranged for his cremation. At some point I asked him if he had a preference for a scattering place for his ashes, to which he replied, "Just flush them down the toilet." Ha ha, dad, not gonna happen. We discussed at another time how his favorite place that he had visited, and wished he could have gotten to return to, was Hawaii. I have never been to Hawaii, so I told him that I would go there one day, in his honor, and take him with me. He liked that idea.
The funeral home asked that I come by to sign some papers and to choose an urn. I was given two options from the bargain package that dad had chosen. :) I picked the one that would best match his girlfriend's home decor, as I did not intend to put him on display. He would have hated for me to do that. But now, my dilemma. Where will I put my "portion"?
I started looking online for something suitable. I bought a decorative box, similar to what my pets' cremains are in. When it arrived, I did not care for it. So I continued to search. There were all these expensive urns, big and small to choose from, but I just needed something that could safely go in my closet until it was time to retrieve them. As I was searching Amazon, I suddenly heard, "Chock full o' Nuts". Not only did dad love coffee, but when I was a kid, there was always a "Chock full o' Nuts" can in our garage, filled with screws and bolts and nails. I knew that this great idea was not my own. Not only was dad giving me an inexpensive and functional idea for his remains, but it was one more chance for him to insert the word "nuts" into a dialogue to make people laugh.
I love you dad. Thank you for sharing your twisted sense of humor with the world.
