Back From Vacation

I have returned from vacation and it was an awesome trip! We had taken the same cruise last year, but we wanted another cruise this year and this was the cheapest 7 day cruise available. We went zip lining in Honduras and made our own salsa and margaritas in Cozumel. I did fairly well in the casino on board the ship, but eventually came out down by about $60. I should have stopped playing when I was ahead. The entire time I was gone, the funeral home I primarily work at had zero calls; our other location had a few, but we were not nearly as busy in my absence as we have been in the past. Of course, the minute I get back into town the calls start rolling in. There were two the weekend I got back, and one on Monday and one on Tuesday, both of which I were sent on. One of the calls was burial at the National Cemetery, so naturally I was charged with taking that funeral out.

Six Days And Counting

I was on call this weekend, and it started out fairly quiet. I went into work Saturday morning to find a body awaiting my embalming skills. I got that taken care of and was waiting for the mail to come so I could collect it and then go home. My boss calls to see how the embalming turned out, and we decide since it may be a few days before the funeral, we should place the body under refrigeration. So I begin making preparations to do so when the phone rings. Someone lost their loved one and wants to talk to the owner, whom they have known for years. So I take the info and relay the message. Turns out the body is at the Medical Examiner's office. On my way to deliver the embalmed body to the cooler, the Medical Examiner calls to let me know the other body is ready for pickup. I call my boss to see if he wants me to go today or wait until Monday. He says go now, so I unload the embalmed body and head off the ME's office. I get back and put that body in the cooler and call it a day. I go home and relax for a couple of hours when I get another call. Off I go, making the removal and then to the cooler. While I'm at the cooler, my phone rings; we've got a house call. Pick that up, bring to cooler. I go home and am relaxing when my phone rings again. There's another call, take that to the cooler. I was over there 5 times yesterday! I took up every conveniently available space in the cooler. The only thing left are spaces on the very top and the very bottom, both of which are tremendously difficult for one person to load a body into. So far I have not gone out today (Sunday), but I was awakened at 7:15 by someone who was prank calling. I answered the phone with our funeral home name, but nobody was answering. I could hear something, so I tried a couple of more times. After a few moments, someone came on the line to tell me I sucked, so I just hung up. After that I got up and did my usual Sunday morning perusal of the sale papers. Being up that early is not for me, so naturally a couple of times today I closed my eyes for a nap, only to have the phone wake me up each and every time! Three times I tried napping, and three times I was roused by the phone. Thankfully, they were only service inquiries and not death calls. Every time I went out yesterday (four times, not counting the Medical Examiner trip) I would tell myself, "One more week...7 more days...." I need this trip so bad!