Death Care

I consider myself just a plain guy who likes most of the things that plain guys like however the career path I've chosen for myself is far from plain. When I chose funeral service I didn't know that there were contingents in the world who thought they were crooked. I honestly thought it was a very respectable career and by the way still do. I'm sure there are crooks in every industry, and the newspapers continue to prove that to us but it seems as if I have to overcome that stigma quite often. That to me is a shame...anyway...

At just 16 years old, approximately 11,000 moons ago, I had no idea whatsoever what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I had no idea what college I wanted to attend once I graduated from High School. It had been a very easy life for me so far since the only real job I ever had wasn't really a job and there was never any pressure from my parents to get one; they took care of it all. Graduation was coming though and I had to make a determination where I wanted to go. No one in my family had ever gone to college ( I'm afraid I'm showing my age here ) yet I knew that I didn't want to go that route. I knew the world was evolving and without college I wouldn't be able to get a good job and a good job to me at the time meant something other than blue collar. Little did I know that the white collar I was going to be wearing for years to come was really a blue collar in disguise.

I only had a certain selection of colleges I knew I would be able to attend thanks to my lovely GPA and had been looking through their handbooks trying to find something that I thought might be of interest to me when I found.......nothing. This was back in the late 70's so research wasn't as easy as it is today with the WWW. I had gone to my parents and expressed my concerns and asked for some guidance. They both still agreed with me whole heartedly about the need for college but the only real direction I was absorbing was "either go to college or go to work, you're not going to just sit at home". Well, going to work straight from High School was not an option for me so I kept searching.

Shazam! There was something that caught my eye but I wasn't really sure if this was what I was looking for. Mortuary Science. I had always loved science and death did fascinate me but did I really want to be an undertaker? Okay, back to the parents for advice. Upon the presentation of my latest discovery I honestly didn't know what to expect yet it turned out to be quite favorable. The first thing out of my fathers mouth was "that's great!"..."you see, I used to work for an undertaker and the work wasn't hard, the undertaker wore fancy clothes all the time, drove in fancy cars, so I know he made a lot of money and ______ was really respected in the neighborhood, that's a good choice!". You know, I now realize that if it was as sweet and easy as he portrayed it, why on earth wasn't he one? But then that didn't even pass through my immature, naive mind. So with their help the decision was made ( like all of my previous life) and I was on track to becoming a "Funeral Director".

This choice of course narrowed down the number of schools I would have to attend because not every school has a Mortuary Science curriculum. In time applications were submitted and to my shock I was accepted into each school. I selected the school of my choice and was now mentally preparing for college....to be continued