HW 52

In the third part of Mortician Diaries I read more stories some tragic, some humorous, some where I just thought damn, and various other reactions as well. But in every case it is sad which makes me think, if this funeral ceremony is what we do and its suppose to a celebration of life then why is it okay for people to be sad. I understand it but its just a question that crossed my mind. One story that I thought was particularly sad is the one called "The Parents Who Missed Rejected Their Son in Life Missed His Death." It is about two men who both had the AIDS virus. The one man Gary was rejected by his parents a long time before his death because he was gay. When the mother finally came to try and make things better it was too late. But his body was still around. By his wishes though he didn't want anybody to see him be cremated. Since his signature was on he page the mother could not even see her son before he was cremated. I think that this quote which is also the last line in the story sums it up perfectly. "Sometimes in life we learn things the hardest way."(pg.108) It just shows how one mistake can leave a scaring affect to you and the people around you. But this wasn't a celebration of life. It was just death. So all these emotions are kind of just what we make of it. Another quote that really stood out to me as ridiculous, rude, disrespectful, disgusting, and a load of other similar words was on the next page. An old woman wanted to bury a dress with her husband so that he could bring it to her mother who died in heaven. ""You won't believe this, John, but I am going to tell you anyway." As I finished the explanation, he started to laugh. His laughter rolled into a roar, and I worried about him keeping his standing balance."(pg. 109) When I read this I just thought, these are the kind of people who are going to be caring for my deceased family and friends in the future. People who laugh at a simple request that may seem a little weird behind their back. It truly isn't even that funny. It just makes me want to get a permit to make a graveyard somewhere in my backyard if I were to have one with a lot of room, ect. But there aren't only bad stories that make you hate these people. In the story "The Husband Who Finally Let His Wife's Life be Celebrated", it is about a woman who has been on life support and they finally took her off. She wasn't in any condition for an open casket. Her husband didn't know how he could live without her and thats why she has been on life support for so long. But he talked of her life and let her go. But he had his own ceremony with his native people. They celebrated till late at night and it sounded like a wonderful time. "Yes, there was crying, but there was also a tremendous expression of love as they embraced and talked about the life of the loved one they had lost." (Pg. 128) I just thought that, that line was very amazing and true from what I read about. What the ideal funeral should be like.

HW 51

In the second third of the book Mortician Diaries I read a lot of really sad stories from many different families and other people such as funeral directors and others. Yet as sad as they all were there were a lot of senses of humor and happiness in a lot of them. I think that it is trying to show that with death the appreciation of life comes. To appreciate the life that has been lived and ones own life. As well as being a sad depressing day where you are suppose to morn a funeral is also the celebration of life. "People talked, laughed, and simply enjoyed the hour together with food and drink." pg. 51. Early in this passage also it said that over one hundred people were there. I feel that to get one hundred people, many of which may not even know each other in a room laughing and talking over food is one of the hardest things to do. It's kind of a shame that the death of somebody is what brings these people together. If people could just come together regularly and celebrate like that the world would be a lot happier place. I also realized that death is very cliché. In many of the stories there was a very typical beginning or turning point. Like this one said "I was barely 14 when my mother became very ill." pg. 64. I remembered hearing tons of stories just like this one before and it made me think how we're all connected. That there is always somebody out there with the same problem or similar problem and that we live in a really small world when you think about it. That lead to me to think that death connects each and every one of us.

hw 49

 Hey Lora,
I really enjoyed reading your blog post. I feel like it was very well detailed and kept me reading. To be honest when I read about the second guy I thought what the hell, but then I thought about it and realized that if your picking out a ceremony like that then your a hell of a lot more creative then most of the people I know. Also that everybody is entitled to what they want done with them, that is until its too late. I think I can relate to the first person the most because I really dont know either and its a hard choice. In order to be set on what you want to happen with your body when it dies, which seems like we have forever to choose until that day, you must have thought about it a lot.
Great post.

Hey Stephen,
Your post was really interesting. Especially to me because I don't have a sister to share my view points with. It is cool to see the viewpoints of two woman in the same family one older and one younger. Its interesting how your mom chose make up and your sister chose natural because whenever I think of mothers, daughters, and make up in one category all I can think is that typical american seen where the mother tells her daughter not to wear make up. So I liked that that wasn't the case. On the question about would you help in a prepping a family funeral I agree with both your mom and your sister. I know exactly where your sister is coming from, like why would anybody want to help put a dead loved one in a casket or whatever the situation may be. But if its part of the dead persons last will I think your mom would be right to help out with the preparation.