A Hurricane of a Week

The moon is just past the full stage and the wind has finally died down. The rain has, at long last stopped and I am exhausted.
The devastation along the Eastern shore of the United States can not be ignored. That was one huge storm system that reached as far as the Eastern shores of Michigan. For four days, the wind has been blowing and the rain pouring down. The neighborhood that I live in is fairly new construction and the power lines are all buried. But in the sleepy border town of where I work, the trees snapped under the heavy rains and high winds. Taking with them power to thousands of homes and businesses. Our funeral home was one of them. Two days of no power. Getting the business by on the small amount of power supplied by a single generator. The show must go on! It is times like these that a business like ours is even more important and you can't just close up shop for a couple of days.
Yesterday, we had a candlelight service for a five day old baby. And over night, we picked up a ninety-nine year old woman. Fortunately the power was restored this morning because we have a service tomorrow for a forty-eight year old man. Three completely different ages of people. And yet each and everyone of them died of natural causes. For each of them, their mission was complete here on earth.
As for me, after standing in the 60mph gust of wind and rain for three hours on Monday with 20 foot waves crashing on the shore just over the hill from where I was standing, my body is in need of some rest and relaxation. But it's shaping up to be a busy weekend. There is a lot of office work to catch up on now that the power is restored and new business keeps flowing in. But such is life in the death business.

Every day, I see death. I look it square in the eye. I see the old, well traveled bodies of people that lived long happy, healthy lives. I hear the stories of how they spent those lives. I too, see the young and I wonder, how much life will I squeeze into my time here on earth?

A couple of weeks ago, during a service, a woman about my age walked into the funeral home. She was there to make arrangements for her daughters funeral. You see, the night before, her daughter was riding in the back seat of a friends car. When the friend drove through a stop light at full speed, the on-coming truck had no time to stop. Out of seven people involved in the accident, this twenty year old girl was the only one that did not make it.
Later that day, I picked her up from the medical examiners office. It is sad to see such a young person lying on that stretcher.
The visitation brought out hundreds of young college aged kids. I wish that I could say that I did not see them in the parking lot smoking weed and drinking. But I did see them. And I wonder which one would be next.

I can only hope that this young girl had completed her mission here on earth. We all touch the lives around us in so many ways. It is my goal that everyone that knows me, is somehow a little better having known me. Even if for just a short while. I take my experiences with each person I meet and I always try to learn something. By doing so, I am enriched by each of you. I know that the people touched by the three lives at the beginning of this post are a little better off having known them. And I hope that everyone that knew this young girl has been blessed by knowing her as well.

In my business, we are here to help the people that are left behind to cherish the memories. In doing so, we have to remember that to relieve someone else's burdens makes it more about us and keeps others the way they are. But by walking with them through it makes it more about them and helps them move through it.