Obituaries

So, I was sitting at ICC on Thursday, trying to get some work done but instead played on the internet. I surf all the local papers in Jville, Peoria, Spfld and B-N and noticed one thing...I read the obituaries. All of them. I have quite the fascination. I guess it goes back to when I worked at Gibson Area and Eureka Community Hospitals; the med/surg floor was mostly elderly patients. In fact, during my first "official" day of work as a CNA, a patient of mine died. When I worked at ECH and Maple Lawn, I guess it was habit to check the obituaries because most of the time you didn't know what these people did for a living. Then I started thinking, how can anyone shove 80 years of life into 1000 words? Seriously. Maybe most of the people who died were veterans or homemakers, I don't know. But I would've liked to hear about their life- maybe their favorite vacation spot or a really good family memory.

I don't know what I want my obituary to say, but I want to write it. I always thought about working in a funeral home or being an obituary writer at a rural newspaper. I think death is the most peaceful thing I've ever experienced; and I've been at many patients' bedsides singing them hymns or telling them it's okay to go. Maybe I'm just weird, maybe I'm just rambling now, maybe my calling is to be present at death, I don't know. But my obituary better be fun. :)