Friday, October 14, 2005

Six Feet Under

I'm at home sick today.

I stuck it out for two hours at work, but was SO relieved when I could go home. I don't have any more paid sick time this year thanks to my stupid appendix, but there was no way I could be pleasant around children today.

There's something miserable going around and I got it, though I'll spare you the gory details, except to say that I'm usually MUCH less haggard-looking.

I'm self-medicating by drinking lots of hot tea, taking lots of baths as hot as I can stand them, and re-watching the first two seasons of "Six Feet Under".

If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It's a quirky little show about a family who owns a funeral home. Funerals, sex, embalming fluid, family drama, visits from beyond the grave, romance, coffins, it has it all.

When I was in high school I was actually very interested in going into the funeral industry. Through my school counsellor I even arranged to take a tour of one of the local funeral homes. I was fascinated.

But also a little shocked. Not at what you think I might be shocked at perhaps, the actual physical reality of death and handling dead bodies. No, I was shocked at the prices the funeral homes charge. The mark-up is disturbing.

I tell you, if I die, I'd want my family to take the nine thousand dollars they could spend on a coffin for me, and instead take a wild tropical vacation in my honour, toasting me with exotic drinks with little umbrellas in them.

Go ahead, throw my ashes into the wind, just as long as you remember me fondly. :)

So, anyhoooo, I was rather put off by the rather callous financial aspect of the business. Then I went on to read an old death-industry classic, Jessica Mitford's "The American Way of Death" and that really took the shine off me wanting to become a funeral director.

But watching "Six Feet Under" still makes a fine way to spend a recuperative afternoon. :)

5 comments:

Pol* said...

Can you guys just bury my mortal remains with a little stone plaque with my last wish on it (so no murder investigations result) under some grand old tree in the middle of nowhere? Or ashes are fine too.... its the setting: trees + solitude = pol's final resting place. Love your plan!!!!

M. Santos said...

I always thought it would be nice to die on a Tuesday. Wednesday is garbage pick up day and my family could just throw me on the curb in my blue suit and save a few bucks.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm.... i was home sick today, too. No 'Six Feet Under' for me, though -- lots of lying in bed and reading tawdry books about serial killers.

I haven't quite decided what I want to have happen to my mortal coil when I finally shuffle it off. But certainly NO BURIAL AT SEA. *shudder* I stoutly refuse to become crab food. Blech!

Heather said...

Ahhhh, Six Feet Under has to be one of my all time favorite TV series. All I know about what I want when I die is that I don't want one of those flat headstones, you know the kind they can run over with the lawnmower. I want the old fashioned kind, one that really says 'I am Here'

Spider Girl said...

Bill, that is so cool your family knows him. There's my Six Degrees of Separation theory working again. :)

And H. E. , I really do like the look of those kinds of cemeteries more too. More elegant,less boring.
But REALLY expensive.