This 5-year-old asked for a fun funeral, so his parents did just that

Losing a child is one of the most devastating things imaginable, but this sweet five-year-old boy made his death a little bit easier for his family by asking that his funeral be fun instead of sad.

The obituary for Garrett Michael Matthias was published online by the Des Moines Register last week and soon went viral for its light-hearted humour despite the morbid circumstances. Garrett, a.k.a. "The Great Garrett Underpants," died of a rare form of cancer called Alveolar Fusion Negative Rhabdomyosarcoma, but that didn't stop him from being his silly five-year-old self in his obituary. For example, he had some pretty creative plans for his time in the afterlife saying,"I am going to be a gorilla and throw poo at Daddy!"

His parents, Emilie and Ryan Matthias, compiled the funny obituary from answers Garrett had given to questions they asked him throughout his cancer treatments. Aside from his plans to be reborn as a poo-flinging ape, the obituary included lists of the things he loved the most ("Playing with my sister, my blue bunny, thrash metal, Legos, my daycare friends, Batman and when they put me to sleep before they access my port") and the things he hated ("Pants!, dirty stupid cancer, when they access my port, needles, and the monkey nose that smells like cherry farts").

He also asked to be burned at sea ("like when Thor's Mommy died") and to be turned into a tree so he can live in it when he's a gorilla. His funeral, he mentioned, was not allowed to be sad—"I want 5 bouncy houses (because I'm 5), Batman, and snow cones"—so his parents decided to honour his wishes with a celebration of his life that included all of that and more. Take a look:

Excuse us, while we find a bucket for our tears.

Obviously, the death of a loved one is always difficult to process, especially when they're so young. So cheers to this family for honouring their son and grieving in a way that shined a light on Garrett's exuberant spirit. Here's hoping that when those fireworks went off in the air they could feel Garrett looking down on them and saying the words that closed out his obituary: "See ya later, suckas!"

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