I Sat With My Second Family

We had a very busy morning today. We got one call last night about midnight; this one called for embalming, which we did this morning. About 5:30 this morning, we get another call. This one was direct cremation. I brought this body back to the funeral home, where we still had one body to prepare for visitation later in the day, and the funeral service tomorrow.

While we were embalming, we got another call. This call was also direct cremation. I'm covering the phones while my boss goes to get that body, and the family of the midnight call phones up and we set an appointment for later in the morning. The owner came in and we were discussing all the new business. He asked if the embalming case had pre-arrangements. They did, so he informed me about an hour ahead of time that I would be sitting with this family.

So I studied the file, the pre-arrangements and which casket the plans called for, and so forth. The original casket choice was no longer in production, so the owner and I look through our inventory and find an appropriate substitute. The arrangements went well; I could have been more thorough explaining a few things, but overall it went very well. My confidence kicked up another notch, and I'll be more prepared to deal with the next arrangement.