Inspired by this month’s issue of American Funeral Director.

Oh yeah, it’s your breath blowing back in your face!

Memos From The Front Office:

Personal Hygiene- It has been brought to my attention, directly, and indirectly, that a few staff members have either occasional or chronic bad breath. Please be reminded that gum and mints are perfectly acceptable and encouraged if you suspect you have this problem. If you have more than onion breath from lunch, I would encourage you to seek out medical treatment, as this could be an indication of a serious health condition. Obviously, this is a sensitive area, but I know that I would want to know when I need a piece of gum or a mint. Please do a check of yourself, and if you feel comfortable to help out a co-worker, let them know if they are unapproachable due to bad breath.

No joke. Company wide email.

Today’s Tip: Take a mint when offered. No, really. You need it.

One time? When I worked in an office? My manager used to have a saying about staying on track. “Just do the next thing.”

It’s so simple. And it does help when you’re jumbled up and not sure which way to go.

Don’t ignore your intuition if “just do the next thing” means taking five and stepping out to sniff a lilac bush in bloom.

You won’t be sorry.

In 10 years we’ve had four bikes stolen off the property. The kid down the way? Three bikes. All ripped. And then, on strolls we’ll find a cast off. Ditched in a creek.

Oh look, a bike in a bush! Earlier this week, I spotted a green Pea Picker . Then, it disappeared. Plus, I couldn’t get a picture because the camera is toast. But here’s a men’s Roadmaster I saw a couple of weeks ago.

And then, a twitter from one of our associates in Central Florida:

The question is: should I brake for squirrels on my bike? They are messing up my time as they dart in front of me.

Today’s tip for better living: Spin on. DO NOT brake for squirrels!

More with Cheryl Thompson-Morrow of Thompson Funeral Home, Broadman, OH.

20 Years Later: “It’s been a good career choice, the initial transition was difficult, because many of the families insisted on working with my father, and weren’t accustomed to a female funeral director.

On Technology: “Technology has really freed our time up, in that in the old days, before we could forward calls, my dad would stay home all weekend to catch the phone.”

Cheryl is uncomfortable with casket retailing on the internet, and would like to educate her clients regarding funeral costs and the value of a funeral service. “I want to do more with our website, add educational content and market our services.”

On Cremation: “You know, when I started working at the funeral home, my dad had one urn, and it was in a dusty box. Unopened.” Despite being in a pretty traditional area, cremation is definitely on an upswing. “March’s services were all cremation.” Most of Thompson’s cremation families choose traditional viewing with casket rental at the funeral home. Cheryl usually discourages the scattering of ashes until a later date, to make sure the family is comfortable with the decision. It’s pretty mixed on families that choose burial, or to take the ashes home.

On Changes in the Industry: “Besides cremation, families are buying more keepsakes, and there’s more interest in pets.” It used to be that the funeral homes in our area were denomination specific, there’s more cross-over now. Besides more women in the funeral profession, I see a lot more women in the clergy. The other day, I realized that we were doing a service with a female funeral director, and two female funeral clergy…there was a time, that was unheard of!”

“We haven’t had a lot of requests for catering services or food.” Although, she did have a family from California that wanted to bring “snacks” in before the visitation, and wound up setting up a full buffet and bar. It was no problem she said, but the family took care of everything.

Cheryl sees funeral service as a life long career and says, “I’ll probably work until I die.” “My dad never got to retire, and in the my pre-kid days, I was at the funeral home ALL the time, even coming in on weekends I didn’t have to work, just to make sure everything was alright.” Cheryl and another funeral director trade weekends on call.

“Now, I realize life is too short! We have a cottage at the lake that’s only an hour away and I want to spend time with the kids, while they still want to!” Cheryl has two children, 11 and 12.

Today’s Female Funeral Professional (known from here on out as FFP, you try saying that three times real fast!) spotlight is on Cheryl Thompson-Morrow with Thompson Funeral Home. Thompson Funeral Home is one of five other funeral homes in a two mile area in Boardman, OH., close to Youngstown.

Cheryl’s grandfather Clifford L. Thompson, started the firm in 1932. Cheryl hadn’t really considered entering the family business and her father, Clifford L. Thompson, Jr., who worked at the funeral home didn’t exactly encourage it. Why? Because it was a man’s world. But as Cliff Jr.’s health began to deteriorate, and when it became clear that his son would choose a different career path, Cheryl’s dad did notice that more women were entering the field of funeral service and maybe Cheryl, who was taking classes in the medical field, might be his future.

He told her that if she planned to go to mortuary school, she’d better get on it. This was the 80’s and Cheryl was trying to figure out what she was going to do with her life. She was working as a medical assistant and funeral service seemed like a good fit with her background, so she went to mortuary school, not realizing that within a few short years, she’d be running the business. In 1989, Cheryl graduated from the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science, and did her internship with her dad, a “difficult transition”, for the young girl and her father who was handing over a Life’s Work to his…daughter.

“That was tough”, she said. “He continued to work at the funeral home, even in declining health, he was there everyday.”

And then, one day, he said the magic words, “Whatever you think, Cheryl.” The turning point. He died shortly after at age 60 in 1997.

Next: Part Two with Cheryl Thompson-Morrow.

No, not this kind, although we are drying out. (Thanks to the busdriver for the image)

This kind:

The Hawaiian inspired ash scattering style at sea.  So beautiful.

And on a lighter note, In the Mailbox: POSTCARDS FROM MAUI

The parents are in Hawaii and here’s a quick note from Dad, verbatim:

Hi Lenette

I’m trying to figure out how to use Mom’s lap top with out much sucess. I like our desk top much better, but as you know, change is bad.

Our surfing lessons went really well and we have some pretty good pictures, but I found out I’m not 25 any more. Everyone was pretty score the next day. Larry fell off his surf board and received a small cut on his arm from the croal but is telling everyone the cut is from a shark attack. Mom was the best surfer by far of any of us and “Dirk” ( who is gay we’re sure) said Mom did a really good job.

Everyone is having a great time and to day we are renting snorking gear.

Hope all is well back home….Cya Sunday…Dad

A hui kaua

The red buds are peaking this week, and it smells sooo good outdoors. The Urn Garden is downwind of two monster lilac bushes that are so fragrant.

And that my friends is the problem. Or is it? There’s no separation between work and home. It’s getting better, but when you cross the threshold at my place, you immediately enter our World Headquarters. My messy desk and file cabinet, work and living space all rolled into one, it’s the first site you see when you hit the door. It’s aesthetics really, and can easily be solved. Lots of people would ignore the clutter and crossover just for the opportunity to work from home, but there has to be a more attractive and productive answer, to partition it off somehow, I feel inspiration coming.

Listen to Your Gut: Spoke with a colleague today who worked for a funeral supply company and had taken on a line of the Chinese caskets. She really wanted me to take on a territory and help move the product, she’s good at what she does, works hard, and it could be a “great opportunity”. A nice addition to my business. When someone says “Great Opportunity” my radar goes off. Call me lazy, but I didn’t want to travel, and I’ve got my own challenges with distribution without adding the bulk of crated caskets to the mix. Not to mention the YEARS it would take to establish relationships with the funeral homes that were locked up in long-term dealings with their suppliers. If ever there was a breakthrough….I just couldn’t see it.

Today she informed me that after a year or two of that back breaking business, she’s moved on to what she’s really good at. Selling pre-need.

Which reminds me, Candace has a great tip on estate planning.

Another Revelation: Since I left my old job four years ago, the position has turned over three times! Makes you think…was I nuts to stay there eleven years? Nah.

For a laugh check out these old Olan Mills snaps.

And then, for the ladies….Pay your dollar and grab your collar!

It’s Glamour Shots!

Thanks to List of the Day!

Edward Lorenz, the father of chaos theory, died at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, April 17th. He was 90.

His discovery of “deterministic chaos” brought about “one of the most dramatic changes in mankind’s view of nature since Sir Isaac Newton,” said the committee that awarded Lorenz the 1991 Kyoto Prize for basic sciences. It was one of many scientific awards that Lorenz won. There is no Nobel Prize for his specific field of expertise, meteorology.

Lorenz was “the quiet geek” who turned the old concept of “wiggle room” into hard numbers and scientific theory, said Jerry Mahlman, a retired federal climate scientist and longtime friend, noted that the man who pioneered chaos theory was “the most organized person I ever knew. Of all the geniuses of that era, he was the quietest and most humble and the most kind,” Mahlman said. Meteorologists today base their forecasts on his techniques.

Lorenz was an avid hiker and climber, who well into his 80s would “put many younger people to shame in terms of his fitness and love of going into the mountains,” said Kevin Trenberth, a student of Lorenz’s and who is now climate analysis chief at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.