He wanted his ashes spread in a duck pond, which will happen eventually, but not right away.
My father died August 16th this year. He was laid to rest with my mother (who died in 2002) 500 miles away on September 30th.
We drove his ashes for the "event" in our car.
Hard to do that if he was in a coffin on our end with that time frame...
At the end of the day, cremation is the way to go IMO. Less expensive for the family, and more importantly, it gives you more time to plan for your loved one so everything is in place as you want it.
When my mom died, it was like 3-5 days, put her into the ground ASAP (sorry, no other way to put it), rush and have to make the decisions on what you need to do for the family.
After my father saw how another family members service went for his cremation, my dad told me to cremate him, much easier for everyone and the way "to go" in his mind..
Way my wife and I will go as well.
If I sound flippant, apologies not my intent. Just been there, done that. I understand it's not fun and your not alone in what you're going through.
Way I see it, the more you hurt, the more you loved. Thing is, when my dad passed, I was actually more happy for him due to his age and where he was at in his life.
Please note, some religious beliefs do NOT believe in cremation. I know because when I talked to my aunt (my mothers sister, not my fathers sister) about what was "going on with my father", she informed me that the Russian Orthodox does not believe in cremation. I just thanked her for the info, and her son (who happens to be a Orthodox priest) thanked me for just saying that and not to tell her to jump off a bridge because my father wasn't "baptized" in the Russian church to begin with LMAO Not to stir up a can of worms, but end of the day, we all turn to dust.