And So Begins My New Life

Join me as I embark on a new life and new career in Funeral Services.

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Location: Southeast, United States

I'm a Funeral Services graduate embarking on a new career. I graduated high school in 1981, served honorably in the United States Navy from 1982-1986, been married since 1986, and have one son. I've relocated to a new state and have begun working in my chosen profession of Funeral Services, and I've never been happier.

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Saturday, May 31, 2014

Back From Vacation

I have returned from vacation well rested. I was actually back this past Sunday. Monday was a holiday, so we didn't work. I reported to work Tuesday to find out we had only had a couple of calls in my absence, but once I returned we started getting calls left and right. It has been a busy week and we have two services on Monday.

I had a great time on vacation. We took an eight day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean.  We stopped at St. Maarten, Grand Turk, Torotolo and St. Thomas, where we ziplined. It was a blast. The best zipline experience I've had. At dinner one night in the dining room, I saw something that struck me, and for most of the cruise I was a little bothered by it, and then I had a revelation.

I saw an elderly gentleman, probably late 60's or early 70's, wearing a ponytail. My first reaction, and the one that stayed with me for a majority of the cruise, was this is not something old men need to be wearing. I thought it was perhaps a desperate attempt by this person to hold onto a bit of their youth, and how pathetic it was that people can't age gracefully, and how he was probably a smelly hippie back in the day. And then one day, it occurred to me that I am as guilty of that as he is. No, I don't have a pony tail, I wasn't a beatnik or a hippie (wrong generation), but I still wear my hair the same way I did all those years ago in the Navy. In the past few years, I have also become nostalgic over my youth, collection songs and images that had meaning for me, as well as trying to reach out and find old friends. Sadly, that never works out, as I have repeatedly discovered. You make contact, trade a couple of emails, and then invariably they become fewer and further between until that day you realize you haven't written or they haven't written, and what's the point, anyway?

Thursday, May 08, 2014

Ready For Vacation

I am so ready for my vacation. Not only has it been a year since my last one, but things at work these past few weeks have been very stressful. Our other director was out last week with an illness. I covered for him while he was sick, and he finally came back to work on Monday. This morning, my first day off in two weeks, I get a call telling me that he's relapsed and I need to come in and make funeral arrangements. So, on my only day off in two weeks, I get dressed and go to work. I texted him that he was really making me work for this vacation. We are going on our fourth cruise, this time to St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Grand Turk, and Tortolo. I've been to St. Thomas. When I was in the Navy my ship had a liberty call there in 1983. I really enjoyed my time ashore. I'm sure it's changed radically in the last 30 years. My god, 30 years. I feel old.

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