[quote]Sorry Carol, I didn't realise that Jim had already been cremated.  Things are done differently over there.  Over here we go to the crematorium and the body is in a lovely casket.  Prayers and talk of the life of the person who has passed are said, and when the service is over, everyone goes and touches the coffin and says goodbye to the deceased, and leaves roses on the coffin.  Then the coffin moves into a wall or I have seen them go into the floor, and the body is cremated and put into a place in the cemetry with a plaque.  
That is the reason why I thought it not a good idea to take Nike incase she got his scent.  Dogs do grieve not only for deceased parents but for other dogs that pass that they have líved with.  

Pen

Hi Pen,  Yes, it is done differently here.  Cremation is most generally private with no loved ones in attendance.  The cremains are picked up
later, sealed in a decorative urn for placing in a vault or being kept or buried at home, or bagged in plastic and placed in a velvet drawstring pouch for scattering.  We do not as a rule purchase elaborate caskets
which wíll only be consumed by flames.  My sister opted to have a plain
and dignified urn for placement in the vault at the VA cemetary, and
that wíll be done on the day of the service, but she also had them set
aside a small portion of the cremains to place in two professional fílm
cannisters.  Jim was a professional photographer, as you know, and
we felt it fitting.  One was sealed, and is going to his oldest daughter
from a previous marriage who wants to bury it in her yard and feel
close to him and have a place to go sit and think about him.. the other
is to be left UNsealed and given to my sister who plans to take them
to a favorite spot she and Jim loved and where they had a vacation cabin, in Lake Tahoe on the border of California and Nevada, there to be scattered.  I believe it wíll be just herself and her two children that wíll
embark on that ritual later in the year when the snows have melted at that elevation, and it wíll be a quiet, shared moment of reverence releasing a part of him to the place he so loved, there to becóme one with the ecosystem as my husband is on our beloved Mt. Shasta.

In regards to Nike, we are going to leave her at home, as we feel she might be disturbed by all the people in attendance, the tears and sadness, and that 21 gun salute...!  Rest assured she wíll be comforted
and loved on to an extreme degree when we return from the reception to follow.

She is stíll waking at four A.M., Pen.. I talked to my sister this morning, and she said it happened yet again, like clock work.  I"m starting to wonder if Jim himself is behind it and trying desperately to get a mesage to us through her behavior.  Do you think it too far-fetched an idea?

Love,
Carol

"Truth is One..... Paths are many!"