10 years of funerals

it's a week of anniversaries! 10 years ago today i started as a funeral directors assistant with chipper funerals. 10 years ago. i can hardly believe it. married with two kids later (and on my second bout of maternity leave) i'm still at my first even full time job. i have literally learned how to do every single thing that was on offer other than embalming and driving a limousine and i am so proud that i have made it all that way. 

i am amazingly grateful to the then general manager who took a huge chance on a 21 year old and let me prove that i was worth it. i have loved every single moment over the years and can't even imagine a different path. 

i just wish i could find a picture of me with a hearse... but this is the only one i could find :(

broken hearts

twice in two weeks, i saw something that
absolutely broke my heart

two women, who didn't know each other -
but went through the exact same thing - just days apart

just around thirty years old, married to "the one"
with young kids..
and then everything gone - when their husband was taken away
long before his time

i often wonder how on earth this is fair?
why it has to happen...?
i am well aware that there is a plan - oh do i know,
but it didn't stop my heart breaking for these women -
who had everything they had ever wanted

i just hope they can cope -
cause heaven knows i couldn't
"you have to!" they both said, "there's the kids"
but all i can say is wow

and may god be with you til you meet again:'(

makes it all worth it

occasionally you have one of those days at work that reminds you exactly why you do what you do.
today was one of those for me...

obviously won't be mentioning names, but we did a funeral today for a gentleman about 10 or so years older than my dad - with children around my age...

at the end of the service the pallbearers wheeled the coffin out of the church and then carried it down the stairs - before lifting the coffin onto their shoulders and carrying it to the hearse that way. the two gentlemen at the back of the procession wrapped their arms around each others shoulders for balance (and support also i assume...) it was such an amazing sight... i know this used to be the norm for all funerals - but in these days of occupational health and safety blah blah blah - it's not done and in fact basically discouraged, so it really touched me. five and a half years in a funeral home and i have never once seen a coffin shouldered before. it is impressive! and certainly brought more than one tear to my eyes...

and reminded me exactly why i do what i do

:')

photograph courtesy of the funeral scene in love actually
(one of my all time favourite movies- check it out!)

5 years at chippers...

that's right kids...
five years at chippers!!
sunday the twenty-third of april brought my

five-year-anniversary

and most days i still love my funeral job

it's crazy, the people i work with are crazy -

and i'm clearly crazy

but i'm still here

i always swore the minute they handed me that pin i was out the door - but the pin came last week and i'm still here...
who knows what the future will bring :)

i see dead people! for real...

i see dead people - for real.
i'm a funeral director, and have been, for the last five years

but...

i'm thinking about a career change.
there's only so many funerals, coffins and the
likes that one can stomach.
i think i am fast approaching breaking point... or suicide. haha
- i have heard more than once the only way that one can
leave a funeral home is in a coffin.

my job is definately rewarding - but is a damn lot of hard as work,
very emotionally draining, and ages you - majorly!

i'll keep you posted!

horse drawn hearse

fun being short for funeral of course!

not every funeral is a somber sob-fest
this one we did yesterday was certainly not

the gentleman that died loved horses and his family decided he should go out the right way
so we called in lara of golden sunset tours who provided them with our historic "crystal hearse" for the service.
the company i work has been going since 1889 and this is one of our original hearses, restored to it's former glory, all ready for use

it was an awesome sight watching the horse-drawn hearse roll into the cemetery right on time, trotted down the main road by the two beautiful huge horses

it was an amazing experience
one that i certainly won't forget for a very long time

it's days like this that make everything about my job all worth it :)