worst

I usually focus on this blog on what's happening with me, since I've got first hand knowledge and writing about other people is by definition second-hand knowledge.    Given the date today it's going to seem pretty far fetched - but this is all true.

My room-mate is a funeral director and has been for over ten years.    As a consequence, he always wins the "who had the worst day" contests.   For me, a bad day might be that I couldn't get to my email for a couple hours or a server goes down when I need it.  For him, he might have to sew someone's  head back on.  So, he always wins.     

I've learned to brace myself when he uses the phrase, "Not to be gross, but..."  and I try to get him stopped then if I'm eating or there are other, less brave, people in the room.

I was at home yesterday when he called and said he was going to be very late.  They had just gotten a new call and the individual was over 400 pounds.   The essential process of embalming is the same no matter how much the person weighs, but it gets more difficult the more they weigh.   My room-mate went into a level of detail that I'm not going to share, but you can be assured that you would not be able to handle it.     It ended up taking him over 5 hours and his hands were so fatigued that they were shaking when he got home.

While he was gone, I took a couple calls for him and then had to share the bad news when he got home.    One of his friends from back home hung themselves yesterday.   Which is terrible all by itself, but the story leading up to it is even more tragic.

Apparently, this guy killed his uncle, hid the body in a trash can in a field, then fled the state with $50,000 dollars and guns - and was hiding out in a hotel under his dead uncle's name.  

He's been in jail for the past two years and in and out of the court room.  He had pled not guilty to all counts (including abuse of a corpse), but the evidence was substantial and prior to his sentencing yesterday he did the deed.

One of the calls I took last night was from this guy's mom - the victim's sister.   She asked me to pass along the message to my room-mate when he got home.   I can't imagine what she's going through.

So, on the heels of a really graphically difficult day at work, my room-mate gets the news.   He called the guy's mom back and got the details of the service on Thursday, which he's going to try and go to. 

This morning, when I got into work, I related this story to one of my good friends here.  We talked for a bit about how crappy that all was, then he told me that he and his  girlfriend are on the rocks.   She's wanting the "marriage-baby" plan and he's not ready for it.   He may be moving out and breaking up with her.    

So.  My room-mate is dealing with this huge tragedy and my friend is in the middle of relationship crisis.    And me?  I'm playing video games, watching DVD's, and getting ready for my big swim.    I can only imagine what these guys are going through and I have no idea how to help.   I can't even properly relate to them because things are going okay for me.  Just ordinary.

I guess I'll just try to be there for them if they need to talk - or to vent.   Kinda puts things in perspective, I guess.

That pretty much wraps it up for me now.  I guess I could relate some minor news that's going on with me, but it seems pretty inconsequential compared to what my friends are going though.  So, I'm just going to close and get back to work.