Death Is Not For the Faint of Heart
by on July 21st, 2009
filed under Undecided
Last weekend I attended The Romance Writers of America annual national convention in Washington DC. It was soooo much fun and so very tiring.
Some of my favorite workshops were Donald Maas, Jenny Cruisie and my most fav was called Mauled Men, Drowned Dames & Crispy Critters. When I told my roommates I was attending this workshop they all crinkled up their noses and shook their heads. You see it was all about how a body gets dead and what happens to it afterward.
Did you know that embalming fluid is tinted to match the color of blood so that the skin has (ehem) a healthy glow to it? And that once a body has been embalmed it becomes totally stiff so the funeral attendant has to block the arms, legs and head in position before embalming begins.
Did you know that when a body is autopsied and the organs are removed they are never put back into the body, but are incinerated as medical waste including the brain?
Did you know that your body becomes your next of kin’s personal property to do with what they want even if you’ve stipulated a certain type of preparation and burial and have paid for it in advance?
Did you know that caskets are sealed in a cement grave liner that makes it nearly impossible to rob a grave without heavy machinery like a back hoe?
Did you know that if you have a military funeral that your body becomes the property of the US military?
I won’t get into how a funeral attendant prepares the body when there’s been an unfortunate incident that not only caused the person’s death but also damaged it in a major way. Let’s just say it involves wax, high collars and a really good make up artist.
See now you’re squinching up your nose and shaking your head.
I actually went to the open casket funeral of a kid that went to my school. He was shot in the side of the head by a neighbor man (who by they way was not found guilty even though he admitted to shooting the boy in the head, but the only surviving witnesses were the two boys in the car who were found unfit to testify because they were so damaged from watching their 17 year old friend get shot) aaaaaaanyhow. So, things were a bit messy but they did a pretty decent job of putting things back where they should be. Sadly though, fake black hair and real black hair dont shine the same in light so you could tell where the patching was. It was super upsetting since I was only 15 when I saw him.
Wow, so sad cuz. I imagine the funeral director did what they could to give the family the viewing they wanted. It would be very upsetting to see a person young die so cruely and violently.