The moments - by Henrik Karlsson - Escaping Flatland

In Copenhagen, while discussing the funeral arrangements for my grandfather, who passed away on August 30, 2025, Mom told me that he had asked to be buried without a grave. In his early nineties—five years ago—he and Grandma had sat down with my mom and her siblings and said that they wanted to be buried without nameplates and officiants. They wanted the family to gather, eat, and think of them, and then they wanted to be gone. I assume they made this decision primarily because they didn’t want to be a burden. My grandfather saw, and my grandmother sees, the purpose of life as doing good and being of service. They do not want recognition. Now that his body is used up, my grandfather, Nils, can no longer harvest or build houses and roads or care for children or clear snow or manage the soccer field or go around the care home and calm the elderly who struggled with anxiety as he did after his dementia made him useless in other ways—and so his work is done. It is time to disappear into th

In Copenhagen, while discussing the funeral arrangements for my grandfather, who passed away on August 30, 2025, Mom told me that he had asked to be buried without a grave. In his early nineties—five years ago—he and Grandma had sat down with my mom and her siblings and said that they wanted to be buried without nameplates and officiants. They wanted the family to gather, eat, and think of them, and then they wanted to be gone. I assume they made this decision primarily because they didn’t want to be a burden. My grandfather saw, and my grandmother sees, the purpose of life as doing good and b