Lately, funeral homes have received several blurbs in the press about the changing face of “death care”. Naturally, it’s all gloom and doom, the focus on burial vs. cremation and how the funeral homes are taking a hit.
We have funeral director friends in Arizona that say, “Welcome to our world!” Cremation has been 80% of their business for the last 25 years, and they’re doing just fine. Thanks for asking.
For me, a good indicator of caffeine overload is when I spring out of my chair for no apparent reason. That’s when I usually call a meeting with the advisory team and take a stroll.
This past week has been so golden that it’s hard to stay in the house and I had the good fortune of touring one of my neighbor’s rose gardens. She planted these beauties 56 years ago. She thinks they look terrible, she doesn’t have the energy these days to care for them. Although, I’ve admired her work from afar, I’d never seen them up close. To my untrained eye, they were gorgeous.
She was also kind enough to give me cuttings of this unknown flower that an elderly friend had given her years ago. I can’t wait to sprinkle the seeds next spring.
Added bonus, she revealed the secret to fighting the powdery mildew that is so prevalent in the hood. Even more remarkable about this lady and master gardener? She’s blind.
So I’m walking along, passed under the big green tree and literally got misted. The thing sprayed me right in the face! Why you cryin’? Notice that the sidewalk is dry except for directly under the tree.
I plucked a leaf to see if it was sticky or wet, actually felt a little oily. Can I get a tree id over here please?
Meet My Lovers:
Dragon, the Chihuahua. Adorable.
And darling Hoover across the street, who’s new and has separation anxiety. Every time his owners leave he starts the barking. I may work him into the advisory team meetings to divert his attention.
A little further down the road, there was this loud and proud display:
Work it!
And speaking of working it, when I arrived back to the World Headquarters, this effer was hunting out of the birdbath.
Looking down, at first I thought this metal piece was off of the lawn mower, and then I realized it’s some sort of crow bar. I promptly went and checked all my doors and windows…….
Paranoid much?
The best thing about August 2008? The mild weather. Maybe it’s the payoff for extreme storm activity earlier this year (and the last two years).
Also?
The Olympics.
Oh yeah, and good health.
Other than that? August has been a bit of drain mentally and financially. Full of challenges.
And it’s not over yet. We’ll talk later.
The Good News? It’s making me stronger and more creative.
Speaking of creative minds: Jetpacks creates art in his cube. He still keeps a tidy desk.
Today’s Tip for Better Living: Stop wishing your life away.
Last week I had a client who had been corresponding with me using two different email addresses. When client requested an invoice to be emailed, I had to ask, “Should I use the xxx@ address or donkeydik@xxxx?”
No Lie.
Five Years of Consternation:
Revelations in the Garden: Just realized that we (me, myself and I) have been consternated for the last five years. Five Years! Who knew?
Apparently everyone around me. While sorting thru some photos snapped on mother’s camera, and some shots taken in my last season on the JOB in the last five years, the brow is always knitted. Always, every picture.
This pose? “Thinkin’ on my feet.”
Not a good look.
This funeral supply business might be killing me.
Nah.
The tension started earlier than that. It was the slow burn as I phased out at the tee-vee station and transitioned into SMALL BIDNEZ Owner. Note to self: Find pix of me hugging a sales weasel.
I lost my joy during that transition. And friends, I feel a change in the air. Maybe it’s the cart load of flowers that I bought, or the added “D”. , but it’s exciting, and I’m looking forward to the future.
Weekend choices:
Guess which one I chose?
Overheard at the OFFICE:
Regarding: Choices for the stimulus check spend:
On recent Undercover Assignment Adventure, I asked the BOSS if he had time to check my breath.
His reply?
“Are you on the clock?”
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.
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.
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.
Quiet in the garden on Sunday morning. As our intern tries to focus on career opportunities, we (me, myself, and I) were thinking about our own. Even though we have a project stalled, and urngarden.com, was supposed to be a sideline business, keeps us a little busier than planned… we’re able to focus on what’s really important: creating a beautiful life.
2008. My goal for this year is to determine the fate of the Urn Garden. I left my full time job in 2004. Urn Garden had been in place very part time for about a year or so. I was planning on a career change, probably as a funeral director.
Something about it didn’t feel right though, and a trusted mentor who was helping with my research talked me off the funeral director path and told me to stick with what I was doing. He is a retired funeral director, who managed five funeral homes for 30 years in this area. He was shocked that I was selling way more urns than all of his funeral homes combined. Part-time.
And now, I’m so grateful for his advice.
For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m doing something rewarding, and making a contribution to society. Not Fun. And I have the utmost respect for the men and women who have made funeral service their career choice.
I love owning my own business. And I hope I never have to go back to the corporate world. All along, I’ve kept a toe in the water of THE WORLD to expose myself to the elements. And remind myself.
How lucky I am.
Blessed.
And thankful that I listened.
For once.
Peace be with you.
It’s true. When I meet with the A-team and we stroll the grounds of the garden, I like to take pix of the neighbor’s pets. Even the pesky cats next door.
Here’s a few of my furry friends.
Shad resides at corporate headquarters and is a member of our advisory team.This was my first test shot after finding the camera on the back lawn…in the rain. Not good.
Sorry for the shaky pix, I was trying to handle two dogs on a leash, converse with the owner and snap a shot of this little lady, just passing through. Just moved to town and was visiting family. She was kind of hot for Shad.
This guy lives near the Hillbilly Home Gym and as you can see, he’s rather fit hizself.
Sister Christian’s Deep Thought for the day:
Being happy with simple pleasures is no simple matter.
