Member-only story
Crow’s Feet
When Spirits Speak
Are you listening
Even as we get older, funerals remain a mystery to most of us, and a topic in our society that most are loathe to discuss. We avoid talk of death. We go about our lives as if we are immortal and there is no expiration date. When one of our friends or a loved one dies our workplace wants us to take only two days for bereavement, and then they want us to return to our desks and jobs as if we are “over it”.
I started my last career as a Celebrant in a funeral home in Iowa. My first career had been teaching high school sciences. In the last decade of teaching, I taught high-risk students in a Continuation School setting.
During my teaching years, my husband and I also owned a high-end flower shop on the coast of California, in Ventura, for twenty-five years. I retired from teaching on a disability classification, and we were ready to sell our shop. Our three children were out of high school. We decided to move from sunny California to “fly-over” country to find a more affordable retirement.
My husband was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, so we settled there. I began working at the large funeral home part-time in their flower shop. They were starting a Certified Celebrant program. Knowing that I had a teaching background, a new friend in management recruited me for…
