Jezebel

You've really just outdone yourself this time, Moe. Brava!

I think we have a tendency to think morticians are weird and scary because ewww, who would want to do that job? But when you read something like this, it's really a job that requires a lot of bravery and sensitivity.

fuuuuck.

I don't know....the part about him keeping his "creation" for one more night creeped me out a bit.

Needed something for Spring Break.

I'm gonna need a little more than the spa monkeys to make up for this.

@Hamsterpants: Certainly it seems like a macabre profession, but this passage makes me realize that they do a great service to families when they make it possible to see a loved one just one more time. It really does require extraordinary skill and sensitivity, yet at the same time it requires they shut down their emotions and treat it like a job, because otherwise they'd be complete emotional wrecks. That's got to be a tough line to walk.

I knew a lady who was a "reconstructor" for funeral homes. She was a retired beautician and she took great pride in her work. She thought it was one of the most important jobs in the world. I thought it was cool when she told me that she was would ask the old widowers what outfit they liked that their deceased wife wore rather than picking out something they thought the deceased would want. She always said funerals were for the living, not the dead.

@JessicaLovejoy: [www.cuteoverload.com]

Just scroll down for a piglet in a Dachshund nursery and a kitten in a diaper. Hope that helps?

funny i was just reading that article in the bathroom...

@AmazonRedheadedUberVixen: @TheUptightMidwesterner: My dad owns a funeral home and our entire family is in "the industry". There's a lot of bad press with it, what with those creeps in New Jersey selling body parts and not burying the bodies. But it DOES require a huge sense of compassion and care, and everyone in my family loves their job and bringing so much to people at the worst time of their life. So respect the funeral directors of the world, yo!

@misssgolightly: Ever since My Girl I have mad love for the funeral families. Seriously.

Also, did you read the tarts ragging on our girl in that Rachel Bilson-pic post?? (On Ms Audrey!)

One of my ex-bro-in-laws was a mortician. He was a fat happy guy. He had been driving an ambulance for a living before he went to mortuary school. He found the mortuary work much easier to take than dealing with people in pain.

This is depressing, but beautiful. I think that and the slight creepiness can be chalked up to cultural differences.

@AmazonRedheadedUberVixen: Agreed. I know I couldn't do it.

I have a dear friend who is a mortician, and his mother's last words to him were "Don't make me look like a whore."

Wow, this was so beautiful and humanity-filled. Thanks, Moe!

Your description both utterly terrifies me, yet similarly repulses me.

This is going to be quite a read..thanks Moe.

@Hamsterpants: Yup.

My boyfriend's studying mortuary science and, while it's not a job I would ever be able to do, it's definitely been interesting and eye-opening.

@dcdulce: Same here - there was an excerpt of it in Harpers - it was fascinating and revolting. But mostly incredibly interesting. Another great book is Stiff, which is about the afterlife of corpses, and the some history about how the living have dealt with the dead.

Now I can't wait for Netflix to send me my next Six Feet Under!

Jim Crace's Being Dead is an excellent fiction on the death of the body, changes forced upon the living because of, and the odd beauty and peace that you can sometimes find in a lifetime with effective bookends.

It makes me cry, it makes me happy.

Some Cubans were forced to resort to this style of cannibalism after the Soviet Union collapsed. Yay communism!

Holeeeee crap!

@AmazonRedheadedUberVixen: A funeral director lives two houses down from my family; his funeral home is located behind the house. Growing up, if a ball went over his fence, we left it.

When my brother died a few years ago the neighbor stepped in to make arrangements. This included seeing the body before we did, and making it presentable (it nearly wasn't) so that we could say goodbye.

I don't know that I'll ever be able to express how much it meant to my family to have my brother nearby (ok, it was a bit creepy, too), and in the hands of a trusted neighbor.

Though the industry seems rife with dishonest people who take advantage of people at their lowest, or cold and unfeeling people, this neighbor was an absolute godsend, and reminds me that there are good people out there.

@couponwhore: Oooh, sounds good - I'm checking it out!

(Being laid up with the flu sucks, but snuggling under the covers with a good book almost makes it bearable.)

@Tiny-Moves: No, I don't think it's a Chinese thing exclusively. A lot of artists would

must.read.book.NOW!!!

so many good-looking people die every day. it's such a shame. the ugly people who die, not so much.