Friend #4

I've been really busy this week, so I've been blessed to have met my #2,3, and 4 during school. I'm sure it won't always be this easy, however!
I explained to my first hour students today that I have a very rational fear of two things: bats and dead people (and anything relating to dead people). I need to remember next time to keep my damn mouth shut when talking about things related to God cause today, He heard me.
Within five minutes of my comment, Ms. Jackson - school alcohol and drug preventionist - came into my classroom and asked me if her speaker for the day could set up in my classroom for next period (I don't teach that period). I was happy to help her out. In rolls a casket, a funeral director, and his assistant. My stomach turned very woozy and I couldn't breathe! Ms. Jackson saw my fear and assured me that the casket was empty. Better, but not great.
She introduced me to the funeral director, Eddie. He is a short, spunky Mexican man who weaved through english and spanish beautifully.
I voiced my fear and Eddie asked me to hear his speech to the kids. He was here to talk about the costs of a funeral and what happens to our bodies between the minute we die, through the various medical beds, and ending when we're in the ground (further assuring my nerves of my desire to be cremated.) He was trying to scare the kids and it worked.
Eddie started his career with corpses as a hairdresser for the dead. He now owns two funeral homes and the way he explained his concern for what he does was lovely. Creepy and lovely. He treats every body with dignity, always considering, "What if this were my mother?" I spoke to him after his speech and although he extended his hand to shake mine, I had to respectfully decline touching a hand that touches dead-body fluids 8 hours a day.
I still fear dead people, caskets, hearses, and grave yards, but at least now I understand that those who work in the field do it because they love people, not because they have a gross obsession with corpses.