Fun With The Dead

I really don't have a lot to say about "Fun With the Dead", but I had a patient today that used to be an embalmer...and it sounded like "back in the day" that he and his friends had a good time. Death can be such a depressing thing. All people that work around death and dying have to have a release. Humor has to be a daily part of a service person's life. Nurses, doctors, police officers, funeral directors and fire persons all have a heavy emotional load to carry. Maybe I need to add DFACS workers and counselors to that list too.
Understand this, my patient didn't necessarily have fun with the dead, but instead with the live folks that got the heeby jeebies being around dead folks. As a young 20 year old, I can still remember having to deliver flowers to a black funeral home. I had never really been around dead people much, let alone dead black people. If you have never seen a deceased black person....they do NOT look dead. When white folks die, they get a pale, grayish tint to their skin. If a white person doesn't appear gray, they look like manequins from all the pancake makeup. Black people, they retain the natural color of their skin. They actually just look like they are asleep. This is a very unnerving thing to many white folks. But what's funny to me is that many, many black people that I have worked with get really freaked out around people that are dead.
I remember a girl I worked with at a hospital. She was a 20 something black female, patient care tech. All day, we had been waiting for a patient to pass. This gentleman had been really sick for a long time. We knew that death was imminent. That tech would have walked to China to get take out if it meant that she could avoid having to go in and be around this patient that she knew could be dead. Once the patient passed, I thought this girl was going to have a heart attack. She begged and pleaded to not have to go into the patients room. Unfortunately for this tech, it was part of her job description to have to help prepare patients after ceasing to be of this world. I have to admit that inside I was giggling!! If that patient's hand had moved even one millimeter toward her because of gravity...she would have ran to China!!!
Speaking of the dead, Pete felt half dead today. Last night he came down with a very unpleasant stomach virus. Pete spent the evening running back and forth to the bathroom. The runs and vomiting pretty much ruined the hope of a decent night's sleep. He was achy and had chills. Tylenol has been his friend. Toast and chicken noodle soup have been his gourmet meals. Woohoo!
This year marks five years of nursing for me. This also means that one of my Federal loans gets forgiven. I couldnt be more thrilled about this major event. I also can not believe that this year marks my 5th anniversary of nursing. It seems so hard to believe that this much time could have passed. Now if I can just get the other school loans paid off....I'll be 52 years old when this happens....booo.
Lila told me tonight that I was the best mom in the whole world. Sorry ladies....I know you had hoped to get that award....but 2010 is MY year!!! Lila used to tell me almost every day that I was the BESTEST Mommy in the World. Then from about 6-7 yrs she kind of backed off from that....I wonder why???? hmmmmm Don't guess it had anything to do with me being a strict meanie? Oh well....Lila's a good girl most of the time...a little whiney and will cry at the drop of a hat....but sweet most of the time. I'm really glad that she loves me and appreciates me despite the fact that Im strict.
Can I just say it??? I love my family!