My mother instructed me that she did not want a funeral or a viewing, that she wanted to be cremated. My mom was fairly stubborn about this, but I did ask her, "Well, how about if we have a memorial some time after the family's had a chance to grieve your passing? After all, the funeral isn't for you, is it? It's for the surviving family." She agreed. So roughly two months after her death, we had a memorial. A large turnout of the family was present and although there were some tears, most of the event surrounded sharing stories about my mother's life (many had never been known or heard but by a few family members) and more than a few laughs. My wife and kids then invited everyone to her house where we had a good old southern barbecue (my mom lived in NC).