No normal days

You never really get used to working in a Funeral Home. Not in a ho-hum, another day at the office kind of way. There are certain things that will unnerve you; and at unpredictable moments.

I remember getting the call at 5 AM that a man had passed away at a hospital in the city about 30 miles down the road. Since I wasn’t sure if the family would still be there, I jumped in the shower and put on a suit. I ran out the back of the home, with coffee in hand, heading to the garage where we kept the hearses. Looking up I saw a beautiful sunrise creeping over the horizon. I momentarily lost myself in the wonder of it all; the beautiful colors dispersed thru the sky and thinking about the irony of how life goes on. I tore myself from the scene and grudgingly turned to open the garage doors. As they went up a fiendish howling exploded from inside the garage as a terrifying demon from hell leapt out at me intent on ripping the heart from my body; which would give me about 3 seconds to ponder the irony of my fate.

Barely half a heartbeat passed before a gorgeous Irish Sitter bounded out of the garage, apparently trapped the night before when we shut the doors. In the same instant I laughed, cried and clutched my shirt trying to still the hammering in my chest. After regaining my senses I went back into the Funeral Home to change my underwear knowing the body would keep but the family wouldn’t wait forever.