And when they did, the bodies often were kept in the family home for several days, allowing for rosaries and other ceremonies. Today that's unheard of. Baby boomers frequently live well into middle age before experiencing death directly. And when they do, they hold it at arm's length. It seems to be an attitude that if we ignore it, it will just go away.
People intellectualize it.
They think that experiencing death takes place between their ears. And in reality, it's the people who lean into their grief that work toward healing. The five-acre garden, which should be completed this fall behind the Aurora mortuary, will include footpaths, flower beds, fruit trees, a brook, a waterfall and both indoor and outdoor niches. The idea, Horan says, is to offer a more intimate alternative to the impersonal burial plots and vaults now found at most cemeteries. So at this park, survivors will be able to add photos, poems and personal inscriptions to the niches.