I know, you’re thinking I never post and here I am going on a 3rd post about the dog. I promise this is the last one, and this one is really only intended for those of you who have lived here because I’m not sure anyone else can appreciate this in quite the same way. We opted to have Sandy cremated which was, I don’t know….a bit traumatic? on an already emotionally charged day (the place wasn’t open when we called so we had to sit and wait and wait with our deceased dog in the sterile vet exam room….crying, waiting, more waiting. The vet tech told us we could just leave Sandy there “for up to two weeks” (sob harder at the thought of Sandy sitting in a fridge (?) for two weeks). When the place finally opened the vet tech (she was Japanese) informed us we had to take her there. And, I dont know– I wasn’t envisioning like a doggie hearse or anything but I was all “we have to put our dead dog in our car and drive her there? Ourselves? That’s the most terrible thing I’ve ever heard….” (sob, sniff, cry). So, I left and PC did the hard part on his own. He told me they offered him a box to put her in. What kind of box? Like a special “pet box” or is it like an empty cardboard box that was once used for Frosted Flakes? And when PC said that, both of us had this image of sort of stuffing her in there to fit. You know- like that part in the movie Overboard where Goldie Hawn is cooking a chicken and trying to stuff its feet into the pot with the lid but it just wont fit? Oh, gawd I know all this is so morbid and maybe even borderline crude but you know, we’re trying to find some small humor in the situation.

Anyway, despite our horror at having to drive our deceased dog to the cremation place, it was all handled very nicely and we had “Sandy” back the next morning and she’s been sitting on the washing machine since. We’re waiting for a nice sunny day to go spread her ashes at the beach.

Now, the part where you current and prior Japan dwellers come in. Obviously you know how well the Japanese do things- you know the extra touches they put on things and that elegance usually comes from ‘understated’. So it should be no surprise that Sandy’s ashes were put in a pretty pink satin bag with her name and the date. It should also come as LESS of a surprise that said pink satin bag was then put inside THIS shopping bag:
What kind of work are you doing now? Something lost in translation? Does someone interpret this different than I do?

Filed under: Smile and Nod, The Great Sandino